


dude, I'm so sick of clichés

by sweetcreekbiscuit



Category: South Park
Genre: Angst, Bickering, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Drunk confessions, Eric Cartman Being Eric Cartman, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, I love the idea of Kyle befriending Bebe and Wendy so, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm seriously you guys, Kinda?, Kyle is a mixture of anger and overprotection, Kyle needs to take a chill pill, M/M, Mild Smut, Mutual Pining, Past Stendy, Smut, Style Week 2019, Swearing, Underage Drinking, also they're 18, as in unnecessary angst, can I please write Stan and Kyle without them bickering??, oops I forgot, overused cliches, the rest of the gang appears in chapter 3, there is actually, will add or edit tags and relationships as i go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 13:15:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 40,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21819484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetcreekbiscuit/pseuds/sweetcreekbiscuit
Summary: Style week 2019 - day 5 - fanfictionscontinuation of the band!au fanfic?this could be read as a separate one thoughbasically I just threw in a bunch of overused clichés because why notupdate: I changed the rating to mature because of a certain chapter or chapters
Relationships: Bebe Stevens & Wendy Testaburger, Bebe Stevens/Wendy Testaburger, Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak, Eric Cartman/Heidi Turner, Kenny McCormick/Leopold "Butters" Stotch, Kyle Broflovski & Bebe Stevens, Kyle Broflovski & Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski & Wendy Testaburger, Kyle Broflovski/Stan Marsh, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 73





	1. Stuck

"Stan?"

"Yeah, Kyle? What is it?"

"Please tell me one thing." Kyle was already gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white. "How the actual fuck did the car decide to break now of all times, in the blizzard, on a road in the middle of nowhere?! I thought we were going on a trip for the holidays, not on a trip to _hell_!" At this point he was shouting and shooting daggers at Stan who just smiled nervously and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well uh, I don't know about the car, but... I guess I'm at fault for us staying behind because I forgot my bluetooth speaker and we couldn’t go before the blizzard hit?"

"Of-fucking-course you are at fault! You don't need that damn thing! Your phone's speaker volume is good enough!"

"No, dude, it's not!" Stan retaliated, but waved a hand dismissively. "But I refuse to begin a debate on that right now." A moment of silence passed before Stan spoke up again, now much quieter and in a way that reminded of a little kid sulking. "I just wanted you to listen to my new songs, that's all."

Kyle clicked his tongue and released the steering wheel, wincing at the sight oh his red palms from sqeezing the life out of it.

"Dude, I would love to listen to them, but all you do is scream! I can't fucking understand what you're singing about!"

"Well you know what they say - you hear the screaming, I hear the meaning. Besides, you would understand me if you just read the lyrics."

"For fuck's sake, Stan. I can't read lyrics while I'm driving!"

"I'm not telling you to do that _while you're driving_! You could have read them at home or something! You have to make it up to me, remember? Because I'm still mad at you for not coming to my last concert!"

Kyle sighed and leaned on the door by his side.

"Dude, I told you - I had to look after Ike. Otherwise he would be home alone while mom and dad were on a vacation and mom would go crazy knowing that her younger child was struggling with taking care of himself — even if he wasn't. You know how she is."

Stan pinched the bridge of his nose and copied his friend's pose, but instead of leaning on the door, he leaned back on his seat.

"Of course I know, dude. I mean, you're the same as her."

"Wha- What? I'm not!" Kyle barked and shot up from his seat, taking a defensive stance.

"Oh, really- Stan, zip up your jacket, it's cold outside! And don't you dare to take off your hat! Stan, please eat something, it's bad for your health if you don't. Stan, how much water have you drank today? Stan, stop drinking alcohol so much, you're gonna fuck up your liver and brain cells! Stan, don't smoke, you're gonna fuck up your lungs! Don't look at me, I only smoke once a week! Stan, don't go out with these or those people, they're bad influences!" All the while Stan was waving around his arms, making gestures while Kyle was sitting there speechless with his mouth agape. When he finished ranting, Stan took a deep breath and grumpily wiped his suddenly sweaty hands on his jeans.

"Dude..." Kyle finally said. "I uh... I'm sorry? I'm sorry that I care about you I guess. I didn't realize I was like that. But please, don't compare me with my mom. I already hate the fact that I have the same nose as her."

"Dude! Your nose is perfect. I mean-" Stan shifted in his seat, turning fully to the redhead. "Have you ever looked at yourself? Don't you have mirrors at home? You're the damn definition of _gorgeous_!"

Kyle was at a loss for words again. His eyes were wide, fixated on the raven-haired boy in front of him, freckled face turning crimson red, and his thoughts racing inside his head as he struggled to decide what to say. Well, thankfully Stan beat him to it.

"What I mean is, uh, first of all, no homo, and second of all, my point was to not underestimate yourself."

"Yeah... Sure, dude. Thank you for the kind words. I'll, uh... keep them in mind. Yeah. But right now we need to find someplace to stay until the blizzard dies down because the car is goind to get cold soon and we don't have enough clothes to stay warm."

"You're right." Stan sighed and looked out the window, squinting in attempt to see something else besides the snow. "Oh! Hey! I think I see some kind of a neon sign there."

"Where- oh. Nice! Then let's get moving!"

Kyle took the car key out of the keyhole and zipped up his jacket, then proceeded to take his scarf and wrap it around his neck. In the meantime, Stan already had his hand on the doorhandle, ready to go, but Kyle didn't approve him going out like that - without mittens and a scarf. The redhead sighed and retrieved the needed items from the back seat, insuring that Stan would wear them properly... By putting them on him personally. Kyle wrapped the scarf around his friend's neck tightly, but not too much, and even helped him put on the mittens. Well, maybe he was just a _little bit_ protective. A teeny weeny bit.

"...Dude." Stan's gaze lowered to Kyle's hands, then moved up to his face. 

"Oh shit- right, sorry. I didn't mean to do it again, I just-"

"No, I was gonna say thank you. I mean, in this situation it's good to have someone who prevents you from freezing to death."

Kyle smiled softly for a moment before pulling back from his friend and exiting the warm(for now) embrace of the car. Stan followed him and they immediately ran to the back of the car, Kyle's hands hastily opening the trunk to take their bags. The wind died down a little for a second, but it was now picking up in speed again, smacking harshly against the boys' cheeks. They winced, but managed to get a grip on all of their bags. Kyle locked the car and they headed in the direction of the neon sign. As they got closer, Kyle's eyes lighted up when he read the word 'motel', even if the 'o' was blinking in an interval of about two seconds.

The two boys hurried to get to the motel faster, all the while battling with the wind pushing them back. Stan's hand had even found its way in the grasp of the redhead for extra support.

At last Stan and Kyle found themselves in the warm welcoming lobby of the motel. They took a moment to stop by the door and catch their breath. Then they stepped forward to the reception desk and Kyle greeted the receptionist.

"Uh, hi. Do you have any available rooms?"

The receptionist smiled kindly and eyed the boys' still joined hands for a second.

"There's only one available, but I think it will suit you. There's only a twin bed in it, but from what I see I don't think you'll have a problem."

Stan and Kyle looked down to their hands, immediately pulling them back from each other upon realizing what they have been doing. Stan smiled sheepishly.

"No, no. We're not... what you think we are."

Kyle nodded in agreement, but the receptionist seemed to dismiss Stan's denial.

"Let me just find the key for the room. Oh, and that would be thirty dollars." The receptionist said while they searched under their desk. Kyle and Stan also took their time to search for their wallets. Stan was the first one to find his and proceeded to count the money that he needed to give.

"Uh, excuse my french, but fuck off, Stan, you're not paying."

"Nope. You back off because I'm definetely doing it."

"Nuh-uh, not happening." Kyle shot back, but Stan protested again.

"Dude, just leave it to me. God... Why do we have to do this every time?"

"Because you're too stubborn, that's why." Kyle sighed exasperatedly and pulled out $15, putting them on the reception desk. "Okay, I pay 15 and you pay 15, otherwise we're gonna be stuck here all night. Plus, we're wasting the person's time."

Stan clicked his tongue but instead of saying something in response, he grumpily did as his friend instructed him. 

"Oh, that's alright. I don't mind." The receptionist smiled again and got up, handing a small key to the boys and giving them directions to their room. Stan and Kyle thanked them and hurried over to the room. At this point they were tired and freezing, so they didn' t really mind the crampiness of the room and the not-so-big bed.

Immediately upon entering the room, Stan let his bags fall down to the ground and plopped down on the bed face-down. Only then did he decide to take off his scarf and mittens, then proceed to take off his jacket. Kyle had already done that in the meantime and sat down next to him.

"You should have took your wet jacket off before laying down, genius. Now you're gonna get the bed wet."

Stan grunted instead of responding and threw his jacket on the floor without lifting up from the bed.

Kyle snorted, refraining himself from laughing at his friend's laziness and laid down on the edge of the bed with his back turned to Stan, wrapping himself in the covers while, in contrast to him, Stan was taking up as much space as two people with his long legs and arms. Though after a while he turned his head to Kyle, gazing sleepily at him.

"Kyle?" The said boy turned around upon hearing his name. "Can I, like, get a share of the blanket? It's kinda the only one here from what I see."

The redhead rolled his eyes and lifted the blanket. Stan just stood there, not moving even a single finger.

"What are you waiting for? The blanket won't come to you by itself."

"Uh, I kinda can't. My body doesn't want to move."

"What- Stan, you- you're fucking impossible." Kyle moved forward a little, careful not to touch his friend anywhere because of... safety measures while covering him with the soft fluffy fabric.

"Thanks, dude. You're the best."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"But, uh..." Stan began. He managed to shift his body to lay on his side despite his statement from a few seconds ago. "I'm cold and I need a hug. No homo though."

Kyle stood serious for a while, but his poker face didn't hold on for too long and he started laughing.

"What? Hey! Don't you dare laugh at me! I'm serious.

"But- haha, Stan-" The redhead wiped the tears forming in his eyes and calmed down after a few deep breaths. "You're such a grown-up baby." He was still smiling as he wrapped his arms around his friend.

Stan dismissed this by rolling his eyes and scooted closer, returning the hug as much as he could in his current position.

"Holy shit, dude-" Stan exclaimed as he practically glued himself to Kyle's body. "How the hell are you always this warm? You're like a walking heater!"

"Uh, maybe because unlike _some people_ I always wear clothes that keep me warm?"

The raven-haired boy bumped his forehead at the other's chest in a sign of protest and closed his eyes.

"I don't know, but it's nice to have a personal heater. The only downside to this is that you talk too much."

Kyle laughed the remark off and adjusted the blanket around them.

"You're aware of the fact that if Wendy finds out about this she's gonna dump your ass again, right?" He said after a moment of silence, his brows furrowed and his lips pursed in worry.

"Oh, about that- I broke up with her two days ago." Stan replied apathetically. His monotonous voice could rival even Craig's natural talent of not caring about anything.

"Wait, what? _You_ broke up with her? Are you sure it was not her who broke up with you?" Kyle looked at Stan, but he refused to lift his head.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I was just not happy with her. And she wasn't happy with me either because of me being away all the time, whether I'm at concerts or at band practice with Kenny, Butters and Jimmy... or hanging with you.

"But- Stan, she was your girlfriend, you could spend more time with her instead of with me or the others."

"Yeah... no. Not happening. You and the others are more important to me right now. And I guess Wendy kinda got old. I mean, not in age or something- actually, in age too, but my point is that her attitude got boring."

"Understandable." Kyle said under his breath. "It was time for you two to realize that your thing wouldn't work out." With that their conversation about Stan's break-up died down.

"Um, dude." The raven-haired boy muttered after a while. "What are you doing?"

"Hm?" The redhead looked down again to see his fingers entangled in the other's hair. He smiled sheepishly and pulled his hand back. "Sorry, that was unintentional. I do this sometimes to Ike when he's distressed."

"So you think I'm distressed now?" Stan finally decided to look up to his friend and he looked perfectly okay. There was even a glimmer in his eyes, but Kyle couldn't put his finger on what caused that glimmer. 

"Well I don't know. Are you?"

"Nah, I'm fine. But you can keep on doing that... thing with your fingers. -God, that sounded so gay."

"Yep. But it's alright. No homo, right?" Kyle grinned as he continued combing his fingers through the other's hair.

"0% homo." Stan replied and once again rested his head on the other’s chest, closing his eyes.

Kyle sighed and waited for him to fall asleep. Then he moved his hand to Stan's cheek, resting it there lightly so as to not wake him up. After some minutes(or probably hours) of looking at his friend's face, Kyle also fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more like 100000000000% homo  
ahem-  
'dude' counter: 11


	2. Automatic vs. manual

Stan woke up the next morning to find himself lying on top of his friend, with his hands under the redhead's shirt. In return, Kyle had his arms wrapped protectively around Stan. Thankfully he was still sleeping so Stan managed to get off him carefully without waking him up. The raven-haired boy scratched his waist and yawned while making his way to the bathroom. When he got there he started undressing, though he needed to lean on the not-so-clean wall to prevent falling because of his drowsiness. He yawned again and folded his clothes, leaving them on the sink counter. After that he stepped under the shower, fixing the ideal temperature of the water.

Stan was enjoying this for a while, but after a few minutes Kyle just walked in like he owned the place. The redhead stopped in his tracks when he saw his friend there.

"Damn, I didn't know that you had such a nice ass." He remarked drowsily, the corner of his lips lifting up in a lazy half-smile. 

Stan turned his head towards Kyle and hurried to cover the said part of his body with his hands.

"Dude! What the fuck? Are your hands tied or something? You could have knocked! And did you just- compliment my ass?..."

Kyle froze and blinked a few times until he processed everything. He seemed to wake up for real now and he looked away wide-eyed and with red cheeks.

"Shit, sorry! I didn't mean to say it out loud! I mean- I didn't think- oh crap, I'm so sorry!" He hastily walked out of the bathroom and shut the door closed, leaning his back on it. "Holy fuck."

Stan still couldn't assimilate what just happened and all he said was, "Holy fuck. What was that about?"

Meanwhile, Kyle regained his composure and took a few deep breaths before knocking on the door. Stan stopped the water and looked around for a towel, but he didn't see one, so he just stood there with his face turned to the wall and hands still covering his 'nice'(according to Kyle) feature.

"What is it?" He asked, raising his voice a little.

Kyle poked his head in while covering his eyes with one hand.

"Sorry, dude, but for real - I need to pee. I'm not gonna look again. See?" He motioned to his hand.

"Okay, but could you bring me a towel and some clothes before you go? I forgot about them when I got in." Stan was desperately trying to sound normal and totally not embarrassed. From the looks of it, Kyle was doing the same, but both failed miserably at it.

"Yeah. Yes. Yep. Sure." Kyle blurted out quickly and went on his quest to distinguish Stan's shirts and blouses from his pants. Kyle still wasn't used to the fact that something from Stan's goth phase in fourth grade still stuck with him. Specifically, the black and grey clothes. And the smoking habit as well, though his friend tried to stop it. When the redhead successfully found some warm-looking clothes and underwear, he brought them to Stan together with a towel he found sitting on the nightstand in the room. Stan was waiting next to the bathroom door with only his hand stuck out. When he took the items, he got dressed as fast as possible and then got out as Kyle hurried to get in the bathroom.  
Stan still couldn't realize what the fuck had just happened so he decided to dismiss the annoying thoughts and went to the window, moving the curtains aside to check the weather outside. The blizzard had died out hours ago and now it was only snowing with no signs of strong wind. While he waited for Kyle, he got a warmer jacket than the one he was wearing yesterday and shrugged it on.  
Kyle soon got out and got dressed, all the while trying not to think of his embarrassment from a few minutes ago. He couldn't even look Stan in the eye. He just stole quick side-glances of his friend. Well, it looked like Stan didn't think so hard about this so it helped Kyle calm down.

"So, uh... The weather seems nice so we should get going now." Stan said and just stood there awkwardly next to the window while Kyle was making the bed silently. While he was doing this, he noticed that the mattress was moved down slightly, but he refused to question why it was in this position.

* * *

"Stan, for fuck's sake- I told you a million times not to smoke in my car!" Kyle complained while trying to find the button for opening the windows without looking and trying to shout over Crimson Dawn's latest creation blaring through the Bluetooth speaker all at once.  
They had already continued with their trip and were traveling for about an hour, but it felt like a whole day. As for the car, it turned out to have a problem because of the low temperatures, but when the weather warmed up, Kyle managed to start the engine.  
This time Stan didn't give an answer. He was absentmindedly flicking the cigarette's ash through the slightly open window. The silence worried Kyle, so he stole a quick glance at his friend.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Uh? Yeah, I'm fine." Stan replied after a few seconds, blinking rapidly as if trying to unsee something. That went unnoticed by Kyle because of his attention being focused on the road and Stan was glad about it.

"If you say so... But you know, if there's something troubling you, you can talk to me."

Stan took a final drag of his cigarette before throwing it out of the window. Then he closed the window and turned the AC's heat up. While doing that, he accidentally brushed his fingers across Kyle's hand, which was currently gripping the gear shift, but the redhead didn't seem to notice it or he probably dismissed it.

"I was thinking about a lot of things at once, so I can't quite convey them into actual words. I'll just kinda think these over by myself, is that okay with you?"

Kyle nibbled on his bottom lip before responding.

"Sure, perfectly fine."

Stan tilted his head slightly to get a better look at his friend's face.

"Dude." He paused for a few moments while searching for the right words to say. In the end, he muttered, "Pull over." without peeling his eyes off of the redhead.

Kyle complied and pulled the car over in the closest lay-by. He was still holding his foot down on the clutch and break pedals though and that made Stan impatiently reach out and turn the key, turning off the engine while pulling the handbrake with his other hand. He also took the key out and pocketed it in case Kyle wanted to have it back. 

"Let's switch. I think you need a break. You have been driving for almost the whole day yesterday."

"But I'm-" Kyle tried to protest, but he knew that the other boy had a point. And he knew that Stan was serious by the way he raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Okay, okay." He said, a sigh accompanying his words, and got out of the car, walking around it to the passenger seat, opening the door.  
Stan didn't bother to go out in the cold. Instead, he crawled over the handbrake and the gearshift and on the driver's seat. He wiggled around for some time, making himself comfortable and tucking his knees under the dashboard. Kyle waited patiently for him and sat down in the passenger seat, closing the door while the other boy pulled his seat forward, muttering under his breath something about Kyle's height and how he didn't stop growing.

"Uh, so..." Stan began, "Do _you_ wanna talk about what's on your mind?" He asked, starting up the car and looked in the rearview mirror to see if there were cars behind them, then pulled down the handbrake and drove off when the lane was cleared.

"I was just thinking of ways to say sorry for the extremely stupid thing I said- and did, in the morning." Kyle replied, looking down at his feet, then back up at the highway in front of them. He shifted in his seat, anxiously waiting for his friend's response.

"Dude, you shouldn't worry about this. I also say weird things sometimes when I'm not fully awake." Stan said with a smile.

"Okay, if you say so." Kyle visibly relaxed, but he still felt a little awkward, so he quickly changed the topic. "By the way, don't forget to press the clutch when you shift gears."

The raven-haired boy clicked his tongue in displeasure.

"Dude, that's fucking stupid."

"Stupid or not, you'll fuck up the gearbox if you forget about the existence of the clutch, which you do constantly if I don't remind you."

"God, I hate those manual transmissions." Stan complained but followed Kyle's instructions when switching lanes in order to go around a too slow-moving truck. "We should have gone with my car."

"Well, it's not my fault that you gave it to your sister. Also, the manual transmission is much more comfortable because you can switch gears yourself and you actually have a normal handbrake."

"Dude, it's much easier with automatic and you can't prove me otherwise."

"Automatic is for pussies." Kyle shot back, smirking at Stan's shocked expression.

"Well fuck you, Kyle! I'm not a pussy!"

"Hey, it's a joke, not a dick - don't take it so deep. And was that a suggestion or a threat?" The redhead asked and brought his hand up to his lips to try and stifle his laugh, but he failed miserably, breaking in a fit of giggles. 

"Dammit, dude!" Now his friend was laughing too. "You forgot to say 'no homo'."

"Shit, right. No homo." Kyle turned his head to look at his friend with a big smile on his face. "You happy now?"

"Yep. That's much better."

After that the boys fell silent, but chuckling every now and then, knowing that the rest of their 3-hour trip was going to be amazing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kyle, honey, your gay is showing  
(also, I'm sorry for the excessive terminology, I kinda got carried away)  
'dude' counter: 7


	3. Crimson Dawn dudes + Stan's boyfriend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's strange how my writing style and mood change with every chapter that I write, but at least I had fun while writing this one :D

The place Kyle and Stan were going to was a guest house in a wildlife park. Kyle had planned this months ago specially for his best friend because of his love for animals and nature. He was even a few steps ahead, having prepaid their two-week stay there. Stan was oblivious to all this, his only hints being the road signs and the directions that his friend was giving him while the raven-haired boy was driving. The use of GPS was strictly prohibited by Kyle as it would give away the surprise destination.

  
When the boys finally reached the wildlife park, Stan’s eyes lighted up like a child in a pastry or toy shop. He hastily searched around the parking for an empty spot and when he found one, he hurried to park the car, sticking his tongue out(a habit he picked up from elementary school) while going in reverse. Kyle unbuckled his seatbelt, giggling quietly at his friend’s antics. But before the thought of how cute Stan was could reach him, he cleared his throat.

“Judging by your reaction, I take it that you like the surprise.” He said- well, more like asked because of his intonation.

  
“Dude! Are you kidding?” Stan practically squealed while fumbling around the gear shift and handbrake as he suddenly forgot what their purpose was. Of course, Kyle helped him by simply pulling the handbrake. Stan shot a quick ‘thank you’ before turning his attention to his friend and throwing his arms around him. “You’re the best super best friend ever!”

  
“I know, I know. You too.” Kyle said and patted Stan’s back. He still couldn’t understand why his friend was so touchy-feely these past few days, but it was quite nice and it made the redhead’s stomach do backflips. “Now let’s go and check-in. There’s plenty of stuff to see here.”

  
Stan nodded a few times and pulled back, getting out of the car quickly. Kyle followed while his friend took all of the bags both in the trunk and on the backseat, lifting them up easily as if they were feathers. Kyle’s jaw fell open at the sight.

  
“Dude, what are you- Let me help you, those things probably weigh around 80 pounds.”

  
Stan turned to his friend, raising a brow.

  
“How much do you weigh?”

  
“Uh, last I checked I was around 153. Why?”

  
Stan grinned and turned to walk towards the main building next to the parking.

  
“So that means I can carry almost twice the amount of these bags.”

Kyle rolled his eyes and locked the car before hurrying after Stan, quickly catching up with him.

  
“Dude, don’t use me as a measuring scale!”

  
Stan laughed it off and entered the main building’s lobby only to stop abruptly at the entrance. Kyle also stopped and deadpanned.

“Why are we stopping?”

  
Stan was too shocked to answer. He just moved aside to let Kyle step next to him to see that almost everyone of their group of friends was there – Kenny, Butters, Jimmy, Tweek, Craig, even Cartman too.

  
Kenny was standing in front of the reception desk with his arm slung over Butters’ shoulder like the protective boyfriend he is while Butters was talking with Jimmy about something. Craig and Tweek were also there, sitting on a couch in the far end of the lobby. Cartman was bickering with Craig, so Craig’s natural response was to flip him off while Tweek struggled to hold his boyfriend’s hands down.

  
“What the actual fuck, dude?” Stan muttered after a few seconds. “That kind of thing happens only in fanfictions when the writers want to create a conflict or something.”

  
“…You read fanfictions?” Kyle raised an eyebrow while observing the other boys.

  
“Uh, no? Psh, how could you assume that I do? I just read random reviews once in a while.”

  
Before Kyle could give another response, Cartman cut him off.

  
“Oh, would you look at that? Another pair of homos came here. How unexpected!” Cartman threw his arms up in exasperation. “Is there a pride parade around that I don’t know about?”

  
“What, you wanna celebrate with us, fatass?” Kyle shot back with a snarl, followed by Kenny’s laughing and Tweek saying something along the lines of ‘Craig, we should get out of here, it’s too much pressure!’.

  
“Shut up, Kahl! I don’t wanna be anywhere close to your sand-filled vagina even if the world was ending!”

  
“I _don’t_ have sand in my- Oh for fuck’s sake, Cartman! Fucking grow up already! Your “jokes” are seriously outdated.”

  
Stan grunted and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

  
“Just shut your mouth, Cartman and if possible, fuck off. Nobody wants to hear you bitch about everything.” The raven-haired boy said and caught his friend by the wrist, leading him to where Kenny, Butters and Jimmy were standing. He dropped the bags on the ground and pinched the bridge of his nose, his previous excitement now gone.

  
“Ey! You should tell that to your stupid Jew boyfriend. He’s bitching, not me! And you better get him a muzzle so he doesn’t bark so much!”

  
“Cartman, I swear-” Kyle began, rolling up his sleeves as his eyes glinted dangerously which caused Butters to gasp and exclaim ‘oh geez!’

  
“You swear what? You're all bark and no bite.” Cartman spat out with a sly grin.

  
“Holy shit, dude, calm down. You know how Cartman is.” Kenny said, furrowing his brows. “Just don’t pay attention to him.”

  
“Yeah, Kenny’s right.” Stan confirmed and caught Kyle by the shoulders, forcing him to turn around. “Haven’t you gotten used to him?”

  
Kyle clicked his tongue and looked away, still frowning and red-faced with clenched fists. He refused to say anything and instead trembled like an angry chihuahua.

  
“Hey, you guys know what they say about r-r-redheads?” Jimmy asked in an attempt of lifting the mood up. The others turned their attention to him wordlessly and he continued, “Y-y-you should handle their temper g-gingerly.”

  
Kyle sighed exasperatedly while Kenny and Butters tried not to laugh and Stan threw his arms in the air dramatically.

  
“Dude, that’s what I’m trying to do!”

  
“Hey you guys, don’t just ignore me!” Cartman whined from behind them. Though a moment later Heidi entered the lobby and approached her boyfriend, catching him by the hand and turning to leave.

  
“Come on, Eric, we’re gonna miss our favorite TV show.” Cartman just sighed in response and followed Heidi with a bored expression.

  
“Fucking finally.” Kyle sighed in relief. “All praise our lord and savior Heidi.”

  
“Uh…” The girl behind the reception desk cleared her throat. “Are you guys finally going to check in? It’s almost time for my lunch break.”

  
“Oh, right.” Stan said sheepishly while Butters repeated ‘sorry’ a few times on behalf of himself and Kenny.

  
When the boys finally finished the current task, they split up to search for their rooms. Stan and Kyle were staying in a room with two beds so that they wouldn’t have any more weird experiences. (But joke’s on them for the author has already planned a lot of weird experiences for them and was now smiling mischievously while writing.) So, as soon as Stan put all of the bags between the beds, his enthusiasm came back and he hurried to head out on the balcony to look at the mountains and trees surrounding them. Kyle followed and stood beside his friend, just gazing at him instead of the view before them and admiring the way Stan's nose crinkled slightly along with the outer edges of his eyes when he smiled.  
Stan was just about to pull out his phone to take some photos when he noticed Kyle staring at him.

  
"Uh, Kyle?" He asked quietly. "Is there something on my face? Or are you just spacing out?"

  
The redhead snapped out of it when he heard Stan's voice and his cheeks quickly heated up.

  
"Uhhh..." He muttered dumbly in response. "You have an eyelash on your cheek. Let me just-" He reached out to his friend's cheek, taking the non-existent eyelash so as to not raise suspicions and let it "fall on the ground".

  
"Thanks, dude." Stan said with a half-smile just as their phones vibrated at the same time, interrupting the moment. Kyle was the first one to check his phone. Kenny had created a chat group named “Crimson Dawn dudes + Stan’s boyfriend”.

  
*

  
** _Kenny changed Butters’ nickname to Leo “Buttercup”_ **

** _Kenny changed Jimmy’s nickname to SuperPunMan_ **

** _Kenny changed Stan’s nickname to DudePower_ **

** _Kenny changed Kyle’s nickname to KitKatKyle_ **

**Kenny: heu guys who wants to partaaayyy tonight???**

**Kenny: hey***

**SuperPunMan: Count me in!!**

**KitKatKyle: Kenny. :)**

**KitKatKyle: Do you want to be the next in my “to kill” list? :)**

**KitKatKyle: Change the froup’s name this instant.**

**KitKatKyle: group***

**DudePower: yeah dude, we’re not together**

**DudePower: y does everyone think we are?**

**Leo “Buttercup”: Um, because you’re practically joined at the hip all of the time? IDK fellas, it seems that almost everyone ships you.**

**DudePower: :o dude. no fucking way**

**KitKatKyle: What the fuck does that even mean??**

**Kenny: uhhh anyway, you guys coming or nah? smash or pass?**

**KitKatKyle: I’d love to smash a bottle in your face when I come. :)**

**SuperPunMan: Whoa that's harsh :o Someone needs to chill :/**

**Kenny: yayyy so that’s a yes!! so if you’re coming, i don’t need to ask Stan.**

**DudePower: uh**

**DudePower: btw**

**DudePower: I still don’t understand how we all ended up going to the same place. it’s weird af**

**SuperPunMan: IKR**

**Leo “Buttercup”: Yeah. And what does AF mean?**

**KitKatKyle: These abbreviations are making my brain hurt. Bye.**

** _KitKatKyle has left the conversation._ **

  
*

  
Kyle groaned as he pocketed his phone and leaned on the railing while Stan continued to text his bandmates.

  
The raven-haired boy looked away from his phone after a while and regarded his friend.

  
“So, you’re coming, right? I promise not to drink too much!” Stan said with a grin, batting his eyelashes at Kyle who in return rolled his eyes and muttered a ‘yeah, sure’.

And so, after 6 hours of walking around the wildlife park, Stan was already dancing on a table in Kenny, Butters and Jimmy's suite, a tall glass filled with vodka in his hand while the others were cheering for him. Well, except for Kyle. Kyle was just sitting there, sipping on his beer and shooting daggers at his best friend for his stupidity while thinking of ways to nag him about that later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 10(without Stan's nickname in the group chat)


	4. King of cheesiness and king of edginess

"Duuude, I'm not that drunk. I can walk on my own, y'know." Stan complained while Kyle almost carried him to their room. Keyword - _almost_. The redhead had tried to pick his friend up, but he was too heavy, so Kyle settled on dragging him by the hands like a sack of potatoes on his back.

"Yeah, you're not drunk. You're fucking wasted!" Kyle responded in a half-whisper-half-shout.

"In my defense- Uhhh... You're drunk too!"

"Not as drunk as you are. I'm just... slightly tipsy."

"Yeeeah, sure. If you say so."

"Just keep it quiet, Stan. You don't want the other guests here to find out about the existence of a bunch of drunk teenagers and have them kicked out of here."

"Okay, okay..." That was the last thing that Stan said before he shut his mouth.

When the boys reached their room, Kyle took the key out of the breast pocket on his shirt and struggled to put it in the keyhole while Stan let his head rest on Kyle's shoulder. After a minute or two the redhead succeeded in unlocking and opening the door. He walked in, dragging his friend behind him, his hand still tightly clutched around the other's wrist, keeping his arm on his free shoulder. The boys wobbled on their way to Stan's bed with Kyle's legs doing most of the work to get them there. He sighed in relief when he let his friend fall on the bed rather ungraciously. He received a slight 'oof' from the other when his head hit the pillow.

"Dude..." Stan closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again to look at Kyle. "Come here." He said and lifted his arms up to Kyle as if waiting for a hug. Kyle tilted his head slightly to the side, looking confused, but he complied and bent down.

"What is it?"

"Come closer." The redhead sat down next to his friend and bent down again. "Cloooser." Stan trailed and rolled his eyes. When Kyle clicked his tongue in annoyance, the other unceremoniously dragged him down and cupped his cheeks with those warm and rough, but comforting palms, their faces only a few inches apart. Stan stood there silent and motionless for a while before saying, “You’re beautiful, Kyle.”

“...What? No. I’m not…? I’m pretty much the most plain-looking guy you’ll ever see.” Kyle retorted, furrowing his eyebrows slightly.

Now Stan was laughing his ass off, his hands squishing Kyle’s cheeks affectionately.

“Nah, dude. Your hair is like a fucking traffic light, complimented with the 'go' signal-like color of your eyes and you’re telling me you’re plain-looking?”

“Oh, fuck off, Stan. You’re drunk. I’m drunk. You know what that means - we both should get some sle-”

Kyle’s eyes widened so much, threatening to pop out when he felt the pair of soft lips pressing on his, coming along with the strong smell and taste of alcohol. He froze in his place, his heart skipping a beat or two and his stomach tying in knots. Stan’s hands traveled up from his shoulders to his neck, fingers quickly entangling in his hair, successfully holding the redhead in one place. When Stan finally pulled back, he licked his lips with a small smile, his cheeks a nice hue of red because of the alcohol and the action that unfolded just now.

“…Dude, did you just- What did you- Why…” Kyle struggled to ask all of the questions at once, his mind a completely jumbled mess until his brain finally registered what happened. “You- you fucking stopped me mid-sentence! That’s not cool, Stan!”

“I just did what I wanted to do for a while now.” Stan explained with a casual shrug, his hands still wrapped around the other boy’s neck. “I couldn’t wait for you to finish your sentence.”

“Holy shit.” Now Kyle was still staring at his friend in disbelief. At his super best friend. He wondered if other best friends did this too – developing romantic feelings for each other and stuff. After a moment of silence he muttered, “I thought you were straight…”

That was the time for Stan to be shocked.

“Whaaaat? Dude… I’m bi and very surprised that you don’t know already.”

“You never mentioned anything so how am I supposed to know?”

Stan clicked his tongue and moved his hands away as Kyle shivered slightly at the loss of the warmth of Stan’s skin.

“All I’m saying is- you should have probably read the signs.” He said with a slight pout.

“Uh, says who? The guy who is as dense as a damn rock.” Kyle shot back.

“Dude, shut up.”

“You shut up and kiss me again.”

“…What?”

“What? You heard me.” The redhead leaned forward, almost brushing his nose against Stan’s in the process, his eyes now narrowed with newfound determination. “I think we can take advantage of our drunken state right now.”

“Woah, that was fast- Though I agree with you.” Stan responded and hurried to steal a quick peck on Kyle’s lips. “But seriously - how the hell can you say so smart things even when you’re drunk?”

"And how can you _not_ say such things?" Kyle countered and leaned for another kiss, but he heard Stan hum so he pulled back, sighing. "What now?"

"My brain is a compleeete mess right now, so uh... The only thing that I think about is you." Stan chuckled. "That sounded cheesy, didn't it?"

"Yep. Definitely. I would crown you the king of cheesiness if I could."

"Well, then... you'll be the king of edginess! ..._Oh_."

"Oh?" Kyle repeated, looking confused"

"I have an idea." Stan declared and fished around his pockets. "Where the fuck is my phone- Ah, there it is." He pulled out his phone and mentally thanked it for having face recognition as he unlocked it. He opened the camera app, but a warning saying that his battery was low popped up on the screen. The boy groaned and tossed the device somewhere on the bed before looking at his friend who still had no idea what was going on. "Okay, where is your phone?"

"Uhhh..." Kyle smiled sheepishly. "I don't really remember." As soon as he said that, he felt a pair of hands feeling around the front pockets of his jeans, then moving to the back ones. "Um, Stan-"

"Found it!" Stan declared, smiling triumphantly as he pulled Kyle's phone from his right back pocket. "Now, where were we..." He trailed and unlocked the phone with ease, knowing what the password was. Then he proceeded to open the camera app and wrapped his free arm around Kyle's neck, pulling him close to his chest and snapping a few photos. The front flash received a few curses from Kyle as he furrowed his brows and moved to bury his face in Stan's shirt, but it thankfully finished quickly.

Kyle groaned and laid there awkwardly while his friend rested his hands on his back and published the photos on Kyle's Instagram after giving them some redaction which consisted of him writing 'king of cheesiness' and 'king of edginess' above their heads and drawing little sloppy crowns. Well, at least in his vision they looked like crowns.

"There." Stan finally said and showed the finished product to Kyle with a proud smile. "Do you like it?"

Kyle pushed himself up slowly, squinting in order to actually see the photo and when he did, he snorted, his lips stretching in a big smile.

"Duuude. We look hideous."

"Naah." Stan waved a hand dismissively. "We're fucking drop-dead gorgeous."

"Yeah, yeah. You'll change your mind tomorrow when we sober up."

"Won't you help me sober up, growing up it made me numb," Stan started to sing all of a sudden, then sucking in a deep breath and raised his voice for the next line, "AND I WANNA FEEL SOMETHING AGAIN-"

"Dude, shut up!" Kyle said, clapping his hand over his friend's mouth while trying to stifle his laugh. "I know you can sing, but now's not the time."

Stan chuckled in response and let the phone slide from his hand and next to his hip as he licked Kyle's palm, his eyes glinting playfully.

"Stan!" The redhead exclaimed and pulled his hand back as the other boy's shoulders shook with laughter.

"What? We kissed a few minutes ago and now you're pulling back because of this?" Stan inquired and raised an eyebrow while his hands slowly worked their way up to Kyle's shoulder blades.

"Well yeah, the kiss was nice, but this is gross." Kyle replied, the corner of his upper lip curling slightly.

Stan thought for a moment, then lifted Kyle's head slightly with a finger under his chin. He took his time to tilt his head and plant a kiss right on the place where Kyle's chin and throat met. The latter's face heated up immediately.

"Is that okay with you?" The raven-haired boy murmured, his voice low and raspy, vibrating against Kyle's throat which sent shivers down his spine.

"Ah, shiiit." Kyle said under his breath when he felt his arms giving up on supporting him above Stan and he let his body fall next to said boy. "Uh, I mean, yeah. Yeah. It's fine as long as you don't use your-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Stan moved closer, planting his lips on his friend's neck again, though this time he sucked on the tender skin there, breathing out softly through his nose. Not that Kyle didn't like that, but he still tried to protest by lifting his hand up to the back of Stan's neck and pulling a few strands of his hair, the latter merely letting out a low grunt in response. After a minute or so, the raven-haired boy pulled back to observe his creation with a satisfied grin.

"Nice." He whispered and laid back down without another word while his friend touched the sore spot on his neck with the tips of his fingers.

"Dude..."

"You said that we could make the most of our drunk asses, right?"

"Yeah, but I had the kisses in mind when I said that. I didn't mean you giving me hickeys where they're most visible!" Kyle grumpily muttered and looked away. "I’m not saying that it felt bad, but still…"

"Aw, don't be mad..." Stan lifted a hand up to brush a few curls out of Kyle's face, running his thumb on the other's cheek in the process, then pressing his lips there softly in an attempt to comfort the redhead who rolled his eyes in response. "You told me it was fine..." His hand fell on Kyle's waist, pulling him in a warm embrace, but Kyle was still sulking.

"Yeah, but… I'm sorry." The redhead said after a while. "I guess the alcohol's messing with my head right now and I... I don't know. I'm confused." He finished with a sigh and returned the hug cautiously by wrapping a long arm around his friend's torso. "Let's talk about this tomorrow, okay?"

Stan simply nodded and leaned in for a tender kiss before Kyle let go of him and stood up to go to his own bed. The redhead laid there, wrapping himself tightly with the blanket and turned his back to the other boy.

"Good night."

"Yeah... Good night." Stan replied, feeling down and cold all of a sudden because of the absence of his friend's body next to him.

"Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite." Kyle added after a minute, accompanied by a yawn.

"You too, dude." The raven-haired boy whispered, now with a slight smile on his lips and pulled the pillow under his head to hold it against his chest, hugging it tightly as the exhaustion quickly creeped over him, letting him slip into a peaceful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 10  
Stan is singing 'Sober up' by AJR by the way


	5. Awkward conversations

The first thing that Kyle did when he woke up was to get up and go to take his phone as it didn't stop vibrating for some reason. Probably someone was calling him, he figured. He grunted as he grasped his head with one hand while his other felt around Stan's blanket for the phone.

Stan on the other hand was still sleeping, lying curled on his side with his cheek pressed into the pillow. He was also drooling, but Kyle still found it adorable. The redhead looked away quickly, shaking the intrusive thoughts out of his head. Right now he needed to find his phone. Yeah. That was his priority so he proceeded to feel around, finally finding the object after two solid minutes or... was it two seconds? He didn't really know because of the hangover messing with his sense of time.

Kyle slowly laid back down on his bed, grunting, clenching and unclenching his jaw, and tossing and turning while trying to magically make the pulsating pain in his head go away. Meanwhile he barely managed to unlock his phone and when he saw the cause of the unstoppable vibrating, he felt like his brain would explode for real.

The notifications were endless, all of them because of one photo on his Instagram - the one from last night that Stan uploaded. The boy clicked his tongue and opened said app to see thousands of likes and comments on that one picture, the comments ranging from "they're so cute, I hope they marry each other", "I ship them so hard" and "they could rival with Kenny and Leo for being the best couple" to "damn, we all know they look nice together, but they're clearly just friends." and "wait, usually Stan is the one who posts photos of them so maybe there could be something romantic going on??? ". On top of that, out of all the photos that they took, Stan had decided to use one where Kyle looked like an "angery cinammon roll"(according to a user named 'crimsonstyleluvr') while Stan looked like an outright idiot with his dumb smile which made Kyle both angry and very happy at the same time somehow.

Kyle sighed and sat up, trying to tolerate the pain and the too bright light filling the room. He reached out to Stan, feeling around the jacket that he unsurprisingly still hadn't taken off. He knew that his friend always had painkillers on him in case he gets drunk, but he didn't seem to find them in the jacket's breast pockets. The redhead lifted his body from the warm embrace of the bed again and bent down, one hand pressing next to Stan's head while his other hand worked on searching for the damn pills in his friend's jean pockets, but instead finding... something else. Before he could even begin to understand what that thing was, his friend opened his eyes slightly, his brows furrowing.

"Dude... What the fuck?" Stan mumbled and brought his hand up to wipe the trail of saliva that was still dripping down from the corner of his mouth. "You could have woken me up before giving me a ha-"

Kyle quickly cut him off quickly by blurting out a bunch of incoherent words, then actually connecting them in a proper sentence as he pulled his hands away like they had caught on fire.

"I'm not giving you anything, I'm searching for those fucking pills you always have!"

"Aw, shit. Here I thought I was getting lucky." Stan yawned, then proceeded with his semblance of talking with his raspy voice. "You mean the ones for depression? 'Cause I don't take 'em anymore, you know..." He closed his eyes again and brought the blanket over his head.

"Dude. Stan. Please." Kyle said through gritted teeth and swiped a hand across his face, gasping and cursing under his breath when he felt a sudden throb in his right temple. "I'm- ugh, _really_ not in the mood for sexual innuendos this early in the morning and I just need some damn painkillers."

Stan sighed and shuffled under the blanket for a while making Kyle's patience decrease at a dangerously quick rate. The redhead was just about to open his mouth to complain, but Stan threw the covers off of himself just in time and pushed a half-empty aluminum packet of pills in his friend's hand.

"Right front pocket." He simply said and stood up, patting Kyle's shoulder, then headed to the bathroom. "Bye for now, I'm gonna take care of that thing that you so cold-heartedly ignored."

Kyle clicked his tongue in annoyance, his shoulders tensing and left eyelid twitching.  
"I'm not touching you there again so fuck you!" He called after his friend while taking a pill out of the packet and looking around for his water bottle. In the end he decided to just gulp the pill dry, but he nearly choked on it when Stan answered, his voice slightly muffled from his current position in the bathroom.

"Well come and fuck me, you coward!"

Kyle released a loud 'for fuck's sake!', his headache long forgotten because of his interactions with Stan, and took his phone on his way to the short hall which was dividing their room, the bathroom and the outside hall.

"I'm gonna see if Butters, Kenny and Jimmy are up and probably drink some coffee with them." He announced, his tone a lot calmer now. "Are you coming?"

"Uh, dude. I'm kinda busy right now."

"So... After thirty seconds?" Kyle grinned, even though he knew that Stan couldn't see him.

"Oh, shut up and go away! Geez."

Kyle snorted and left the room's key on the drawer next to the door before walking out.

* * *

"--So then he kissed me out of nowhere and I was like whoa, and he was all smug like hehe, yeah, and I was like, 'wait, aren't you hetero?' and he said that he was bi and I was pretty shocked at this revelation and uh, then I said something along the lines of 'let's make the most of us being drunk'?? I don't really remember, but he kissed me again, then I kissed him, but then he said something stupid and somehow we ended up taking photos and he uploaded one of them - I don't even look like myself on it, I look like a freaking potato, but your fans seem to like it very much and- uh. Oh, right. He also sang something, but I don't quite remember what."

"Whoa, Kyle, slow down, dude." Kenny said in an attempt of comforting his friend by talking slowly. "Take a deep breath and tell me - was it a french kiss or a normal one?"

"Oh jeez, that sure is a lot of progress for one night!" Butters exclaimed as he let go of Kenny's hand which he was holding until now. 

"T-t-tell me that he didn't sing one of our s-songs." Jimmy added himself in the conversation. "It would be te-terrible for your ears if he sings while drunk."

"Um, first of all - it wasn't a french kiss, no. Second - thankfully he was singing something that wasn't death metal." The other boys around Kyle visibly relaxed upon hearing that. "And third - look at what he did! I could barely hide it on my way here." Kyle craned his neck to the side and pulled down his collar to let them -mostly Kenny- take a look at the red-purple mark on his throat. Butters appeared to think very hard while Kenny hummed and grinned.

"So, either make Stan kiss it better or just press a cold spoon there." Kenny leaned forward over the table, his face suddenly turning serious. "But let's get to the important questions. Did you cuddle agressively? Was there any _cock_ magic?"

Butters looked at his boyfriend, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Uh, Ken, I don't think there are any cocks this far up in the mountain...?"

Kenny snorted and smiled at Butters' innocence, shaking his head, but not giving an explanation of what he meant. 

"Dude, Kenny! I told you guys that we didn't french kiss, let alone doing... you know." He waved his hand around in circles without saying _that_ word as his cheeks turned beet red. "I'm not that type of guy!" 

"D-does that mean you're a-asexual?" Jimmy inquired before bringing his cup of coffee to his lips.

"No, not really." Kyle followed his example and grabbed his own cup, staring down at the drink that he still hasn't tried as he muttered, "More like graysexual."

"Oh! W-w-welcome to the club then!" Jimmy announced with a grin while Kenny patted the redhead's shoulder, muttering a 'sure, bro. Whatever floats your boat' and Butters offered a gentle smile.

Kyle was just appreciating the fact that he and Stan had such wonderful friends, but suddenly a loud 'gooood morning, guys!" accompanied with a door opening and closing came from behind him. Kyle didn't bother to look up when he felt a pair of hands landing on his shoulders.

"Did you wash your hands?" The redhead asked instead and left his cup on the table in front of him.

"Nope!" Stan answered with a huge smile and moved his hands up to squish Kyle's cheeks, making him look like a hamster which made the other boys chuckle. On the other hand Kyle wasn't really amused, so his friend quickly corrected himself. "I mean, yeah. Of course I did." With that Kyle relaxed his tense shoulders and slowly lifted his arms up to move Stan's hands away wordlessly. 

"Hey, don't just stand there." Kenny said, regarding Stan. "Take a seat, uh... somewhere." He smiled nervously and looked around, but there were only four chairs in the room, including the ones from the balcony. "Oh, wait! I've got an idea. Come here, buttercup." The last sentence came out in a whisper when he turned to his boyfriend who averted his gaze, his cheeks burning, but he quickly moved to sit on Kenny's lap.

"O-oh gee, that's embarrassing." Butters mumbled, bumping his fists together.

"Y-you're together for 5 years and you're still embarrassed by t-t-things like that?" Jimmy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dude!" Stan exclaimed while reaching out to take the now free chair and put it down next to Kyle as he sat there. "Stop making your boyfriend uncomfortable."

"Well... It's not that uncomfortable. I mean, that's Ken after all. Don't worry, fellas."

"You sure, Butters? Because I'm still pissed at Kenny for that group chat name. Just give me another reason to strangle him." Kyle offered, then laughed at Kenny's imitation of a shocked expression. "Just kidding!"

"Anyway!" Stan clapped his hands to bring everyone's attention to him, then pulled a folded piece of paper out of his jacket's left pocket, placing it on the table. "Here's a little something that I wrote before coming here."

"Oh, you f-f-finally got inspiration for the new song?" Jimmy hurried to take the paper like an excited kid on Christmas and unfolded it. Kenny and Butters stood up in the meantime, moving to stand next to their drummer to take a look at Stan's messy handwriting. A few moments of silence followed, interrupted only by Jimmy's finger tapping softly on the table as he already started to come up with a rhytm. 

Kyle moved his gaze from the boys' concentrated faces to Stan's proud smile and lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Can I read it next?"

The raven-haired boy regarded his friend, his smile disappearing quickly.

"No! It's uh- It's still too far from perfect. When we finish it, you'll be the first to hear it. I promise."

"I don't know if I should be afraid or flattered, but okay." Kyle said with a shrug. "Just... Tell me you didn't come up with the lyrics while you were... you know."

"Dude, of course not!" Stan waved a hand dismissively. "I came up with them afterwards. But anyway, let's go out." He stood up and stretched his arms, seemingly not bothered at all by the weird turn of the conversation.

The drumming of Jimmy's fingers abruptly came to a stop and, along with him, Kenny and Butters turned their attention to Stan and Kyle.

"Wha- _Go out_?" Kyle repeated slowly, his eyebrows raising up almost to his hairline as his jaw fell open in disbelief.

"I... I mean..." Stan let a forced nervous laugh escape his lips. "I meant outside. Haha. Yeah. As in go out and take a walk or something..."

"Sounds like a date to me." Kenny teased and Butters punched his shoulder lightly to make him shut up.

"No, it's not!" Stan declined, but he couldn't stop the blush creeping on his cheeks and ears.

Kyle laughed it off and stood up quickly, waving to Kenny, Butters and Jimmy instead of saying goodbye, then caught Stan by the elbow and dragged him out of the room.

"Uh, see you later, I guess." Stan called over his shoulder and with that, they were gone, the door slamming shut after them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 7


	6. Awkward conversations pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey look, Wendy and Bebe are finally here!

"Dude, why do you have to be angry all the time? Just chill, please." Stan said, concern evident in his face as he lifted up his arm to wrap it around Kyle's shoulders. Though a second later he found that position uncomfortable because of the height difference and he lowered his arm to his friend's waist, making it easier to pull him closer.

"I _am_ chill, Stan. But then you go and say a bunch of dumb inconsiderate things that just- ugh! They really make me see red!"

"Um, are you sure it's not your hair getting in your eyes-"

Kyle turned to the other boy and slapped his hand to get it off his body in one swift motion.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about! Can't you just stay serious for at least one fucking second without spouting nonsence?" His hands balled into fists, his nails digging in his palms. "Please. Don't get me wrong - I like this somewhat childish uncaring side of you, but some things require you to think like an adult."

Stan pressed his lips in a tight line and nodded while he slipped his hands in his jean pockets. He refused to look his friend in the eye, instead guiltily staring at the ground as he came to a stop.

"Okay, then tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it."

Kyle chewed on his bottom lip for a few seconds to calm down, then moved past Stan to sit on a nearby bench by the narrow forest trail they were on right now. He dragged along his friend who quickly caught on what was expected of him and sat down too.

"So, first of all. I want you to look at me when I'm talking, okay? If the eye contact is making you uncomfortable, it's alright. I just want to know that you're listening." Kyle quietly said, his voice soft, but stern at the same time. He waited patiently for Stan to lift his head up and look him in the eyes for a brief moment just to reflexively avert his gaze again. "Okay... Now one of the things that bothered me... I mean, yeah, I know you were drunk, but you could have asked me whether it was okay doing this or that instead of just doing it. Because there are a lot of things that I'm not okay with, even when I'm drunk.”

Stan slowly looked up again with uncertainty as he mumbled, "If this is about the kiss, I want you to know that I'm sorry. I really didn't, um... mean to do it. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing and it was extremely stupid. I mean, with us being best friends and all, and I guess my feelings got mixed up and... I don't know." He leaned back on the bench, looking up at the sky.

"Yeah, that too... But the bigger problem was this." Kyle said as he pointed to the hickey on his neck. “I don’t mind kissing, but this is…”

"Fuck. Sorry, dude." Stan lowered his gaze again, stopping it at the other's neck as he reached out to touch it, but hesitated at the last moment. "Does it hurt?"

"No. I mean, it's too visible, that's all. But I guess I can hide it until it fades away." The redhead pulled his shirt collar up and relaxed in his seat, though his shoulders were still a bit tense. "And the other things that irritated me - or uh, more like confused me, were the things you said in the morning. You know very well which ones I mean."

"Yeah, about that..." Stan trailed off as his eyes flicked everywhere, but didn't stop on Kyle even once. "Um, the truth is I... I wanted to ask if you maybe... maybe wanted to have someone who could uh, fulfill your desires or something? You know, if or when you have such desires." His voice gradually became more and more silent as it became a quiet whisper at the end of his last sentence. “That thing kinda bugged me for a while, so I just needed to tell you about it. If you don’t want anything like this, I’ll understand you.”

Kyle's eyes widened, his whole body stiffening.

"W-wait. You mean something like friends with benefits?"

"I don't know, dude. It's stupid. Just- just forget that I said this."

"No, I actually..." Kyle forced a nervous chuckle to lighten up the mood. Though it didn't help much as those familiar blue eyes trembled under the other's lids, moving up to stop at Kyle's lips, then up to his own eyes. He briefly noticed Stan's jaw clench and unclench, this simple movement causing the redhead to swallow dryly. "I... What was I gonna say..." He muttered absentmindedly, his thoughts slowly piecing back together to formulate a normal sentence. "Uh, I was thinking about the same thing, but..." That was how Kenny and Butters became a thing, wasn't it?

"But...?" Stan echoed quietly as he examined his friend's face for any reaction.

"I didn't know you would actually be willing to do that."

As it began to snow, Kyle regretted not wearing his jacket before going outside, but at least it wasn't that cold. Still, he shivered when the other boy patted his knee and stood up, offering a hand.

"You know, maybe it would be better if we talk when we get inside."

"Yeah, you're right." Kyle replied and caught his friend's hand as the latter pulled him up with ease.

"Woah, you about to dance or something?" A feminine voice called out from behind them. The boys quickly pulled their hands back from each other’s grasp and turned to the source of the voice. Of-fucking-course. Wendy and Bebe. Who else could it be?

Stan pinched the bridge of his nose as Kyle crossed his arms in front of his chest defensively with an annoyed sigh escaping his lips. Bebe copied the redhead's pose, moving to stand in front of her friend protectively.

"What are you two doing here?" Wendy asked, her brows almost connecting because of her deep frown.

"That's exactly what I wanted to ask." Stan grunted, suddenly feeling too exhausted to deal with the girls.

Meanwhile the blonde girl approached Kyle and caught him by the elbow, pulling him aside.

"I think we should leave them alone for a moment." She said as she casually flipped her hair over her shoulder, almost hitting Kyle's cheek with it in the process.

"Yeah. Sure." He threw an apologetic look at his friend over his shoulder, then turned back to Bebe. "So uh... How are you?"

"Fine, thanks for asking." She received a simple 'oh' from Kyle as a response, so she continued talking. "I thought of getting a break from the boring life in South Park by coming here with my best-friend-forever-and-ever." She flicked her wrist around while talking. "But then you appeared out of nowhere and I don't think it will end up well with all the things that happened those past few days." Bebe finished with a curl of her upper lip in disgust.

"Oh." Kyle repeated, clearly disinterested in the conversation, but then his curiosity got the better of him. "What happened?"

"Well apparently your super best friend went to a gay bar to check something." Insert air quotes here. "And Wendy caught him -don't ask me how- so they put up a scene in front of everyone and apparently he got a tad bit too angry and dumped her right then and there. I mean, what kind of an ass would do that?! It's outrageous! Instead, he could have gone to buy her some flowers or shoes and shit and apologize to her like a real man, but he chose to flee instead of fight for his girl! And he could have talked to her about his feelings or whatever he has before he went and fucked some random guys!"

"Woah, woah, hold on. _He_ went to a gay bar? And- could you say the last thing again?"

"He fucked random guys." Bebe repeated, blinking a few times with her long lashes, her lips pursing slightly in confusion. "What? You didn't know that he swings both ways?"

Kyle let out a forced laugh, his brows furrowing slightly.

"What? No! I mean, of course I knew!"

"You learned yesterday, didn't you?" Bebe asked, or more like stated, looking bored.

"Wait, what the fuck." Kyle whispered. "Are you a seer or something?"

"No, I'm studying Psychology together with Wendy in our free time."

"Holy shit. I didn't know you were so awesome. I mean, with all the stereotypes about blonde girls and stuff."

"Oh, I know, honey." Bebe pressed her short-filed manicured nails to her chest with a smug grin. Then she started walking down the path and towards the residence they were staying in with Kyle following her unconsciously. "By the way, you're quite amazing too! I saw your last match at school two weeks ago. I was sick and at home then, but Wendy recorded it and sent it to me. And you better believe me when I say that it. Was. Lit!"

"Oh really?" Kyle smiled and put his hands in his back pockets. "You like basketball? I thought you only liked jumping around with the other cheerleaders."

"Yes, that's fun too, but I also enjoy watching basketball games sometimes. Actually I want to learn how to play, but there isn't anyone willing to teach me."

"Then I can teach you. I think I saw a court somewhere around the residence."

"You would?" Bebe practically squealed, smiling from ear to ear.

"Of course, dude. Uh, I mean... _sis_?" Kyle smiled sheepishly, but still offered a friendly pat on the girl's shoulder. 

"You can call me however you like." Bebe assured as she returned the gesture.

"Nice! But uh… I don't know if we can go and play now. You know, with all the snow and stuff. We could leave it for tomorrow if it doesn’t snow."

"Oh, right!" The girl exclaimed and suddenly her face contorted, eyebrows furrowing slightly, then shooting up as she noticed Kyle's clothes and the lack of a jacket. "Oh my god! You must be freezing! Let's get inside!" She sped up her pace while the redhead rolled his eyes, but he caught up with her after a few long strides.

"I'm fine, but thank you for worrying. Though you really don't need to." He said with a half-smile, suddenly feeling uncomfortable because of Bebe acting like they were already best friends, but then again, he found it nice to be around a person like that.

Bebe waved her hand up and down, shushing him. "You're not going to convince me that easily. Now we're going to your room and I'm locking you in until you wear something warm! You understand?"

"Woah, I don’t need that. I mean, I'm apparently a walking heater according to Stan. And uh, he has the key for our room, so..."

Bebe clicked her tongue and fell silent for a few seconds before saying, "Fuck it. You're coming to our room while Wendy and Stan sort their shit out. That okay with you?"

"Well yeah, if it doesn't bother you." Kyle answered with a shrug.

"Are you kidding? You're going to teach me how to play basketball, so it's only fair to return the favor."

"Okay. So it’s settled then!"

* * *

"I thought things couldn't get any more awkward than this." Stan said, his hand swiping across his face.

"And yet here we are. Here you are, Stan! Ruining my damn vacation with my best friend!" Wendy raised her voice, her hands gripping the hem of her jacket tightly.

"How the hell am I ruining it?! I came here with my best friend too, for fuck's sake!" Stan made a mental note to remove this last phrase from his vocabulary as it sounded better coming from Kyle's mouth.

"Why? So you can fuck him too? I thought you were better than this! But then again I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up in the first place." Wendy barked, then sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly through her nose. "No, you know what? I don't give a shit about what you're going to do. Just don't let him down as you did to me. Oh, and I almost forgot to ask you - who in their right mind would go and cheat on the person they’re in a relationship with? Maybe it would be better if you talked to me about feeling unhappy with me or whatever!"

"What?!" Stan exclaimed as he raised a hand to press his fingers on his right temple. "Okay, just hear me out so we can get this straight once and for all. I wasn't drunk that night - you just assumed that I was because you thought that would make you feel better."

"Shut up, Stan, I didn't-"

"No, Wendy, you shut up and listen to me!" The boy raised his voice, pointing a finger to his ex-girlfriend. "You're smart enough to know that every person has their opinion and I already heard yours so now you need to hear mine!" He turned his hand around to slap it on his chest, successfully letting out the built-up anger on himself. When he was sure that Wendy was paying proper attention to him, he continued. "First of all I didn’t fuck anyone, we just kissed! Also I've been meaning to tell you how I feel about us, about everything, but you were always talking about yourself! You're always like this - repeating 'me, me, me'! You know, it was nice 6 years ago when you were so hyped up about looking through different college websites to see which one is the best and talk about it with me even though you had a lot of time before you applied, but... I grew tired of it, Wendy. I know I'm egoistical sometimes too, but you're always like that."

Wendy cast her gaze down, her hair falling in front of her eyes.

"I... I didn't realize I was like that." She muttered and fell silent again. Her mind got rid of all the things she wanted to say as she figured that Stan already knew her repertoire well enough.

"Oh shit. Don't... You're not gonna start crying, right?" Stan suddenly felt the guilt creeping up in him when he saw the girl standing motionless like that. "Please. You know I hate it when people around me are-"

"I'm not crying, Stan! God..." Wendy shook her head, then lifted it up to meet the said boy's eyes. "And just so you know – I still see you as a jerk. Now I’m going to go first if you’ll excuse me."

"Yeah. Bye." Stan said absentmindedly while looking around for his friend. He cursed under his breath that he couldn’t call Kyle because he forgot to charge his phone in the morning and now he had to go back to their room, hoping that Kyle was already there, waiting for him.

And so, Stan stormed off after Wendy who was already a good 100 feet in front of him. He wanted to go as fast as possible, but then again it would be awkward to just catch up and walk with his ex-girlfriend after their conversation, so he settled on walking with a slower pace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 4


	7. Makeover and chill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: steamy(i guess??) scene ahead, after the makeover

Wendy came back to the room she shared with her friend soon after parting with Stan, so she was just about to open her mouth to start telling Bebe about what had happened while the latter was absent. Though that was when she heard a laugh that could hardly be considered as Bebe’s. On the contrary, it was deep, but still a bit boyish and smoother than Stan's rough voice.  
Wendy turned around the corner of the hall at the speed of light while her friend shouted orders like ‘stay still!’ and ‘I swear it’s going to feel and look good!’, followed by an almost wheezing ‘sorry, sorry!’. Well that was Kyle for sure.

“What the hell are _you_ doing here?” Wendy asked as she stomped closer to them, not even bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice when she saw her ex’s best friend sprawled out on Bebe’s bed, laying on his stomach while Bebe kneeled next to the bed and in front of the redhead. Though the thing that puzzled Wendy even more was the fact that her friend held Kyle’s left hand, a little bottle of viridian green nail polish in her other hand.

“Uh… Well, one thing led to another, so I guess it’s makeover time now.” Kyle explained awkwardly while trying to free his hand from Bebe’s grip, but she held him firmly in place. “I didn’t really want to, but Bebe said it would be fine, so I decided to give it a try.”

“Yup.” The blonde girl simply said, then swung her arm over her head to give the nail polish to Wendy. "Could you open it for me, please?" Wendy took it, furrowing her brows in confusion, then gasped all of a sudden.

“Oh my gosh, Bebe! What is this?!” The brunette screeched, her previous anger and annoyance dissipating quickly.

“Huh? What?” Said girl turned her head to the side to look at her friend, blinking rapidly.

“What do you mean ‘what’?! That’s viridian green, Bebe!” Wendy ignored Kyle’s quiet ‘what the fuck’ when she bent down to look him in the eyes, almost as if she tried to stare into the depths of his soul. Thankfully she pulled back after less than a second and pushed the nail polish back into her friend’s hand. “His eyes are clearly emerald green so you need that color!”

“What’s the difference though?” Kyle asked slowly, unsure of the reaction that would come from the two girls. They both turned to look at him, their faces practically screaming ‘you must be joking, right?’ with the way their lips pressed in tight lines and their eyebrows lifted up. “Ah, shit. I feel a lecture approaching.”

“At least you catch up quickly unlike some people.” Wendy sighed, moving to open the drawer next to Bebe’s bed. “I mean your best friend.” She explained while searching for the nail polish that she needed.

"Yeah, I caught up on that too. And Stan could be really dense sometimes, but he's-"

"Alright!" Wendy grinned victoriously as she pulled another bottle of nail polish out from the drawer. She moved to sit down next to Kyle, pushing him to the side casually. "Look now, this is emerald green. And this-" She pointed to the other nail polish which Bebe almost felt ashamed for holding. "...is viridian green. Viridian green is a few tones lighter than emerald green and you can also notice a blueish hue in it."

"Oh." Kyle blinked a few times, taking in the information, then nodded slowly. "Okay, I see."

"Now..." Wendy handed the little bottle to Bebe who took it, quickly removing the lid and went back to holding Kyle's hand in one place.

"I think we should also do something about his hair, don't you think?" The blonde girl asked quietly as her eyes narrowed when she swiped the little brush across her first victim - Kyle's thumbnail.

"No, no, no! I didn't sign up for that!" The redhead protested, almost pulling his hand back, but he remembered that he had to stay still, so he did just that. "I'm not letting you touch my hair!"

"Oh come on! It's a mess!" Wendy argued. "I don't even know how you can possibly wash it without tangling your fingers in it."

"It's fine! It's not that tangl- oww, FUCK!" Kyle shouted when Wendy attempted to comb through a lock of his hair with her fingers which abruptly came to a stop halfway. "Okay, okay! I give up!" He sighed in relief when the dark-haired girl stood up, carefully pulling her hand back.

"Okay then!" Wendy smiled and clapped her hands. "Let's get it started!" She walked over to her bed with a slight skip in her steps and took one of her (many) bags, emptying it from its contents on the bed.

Kyle stared at the items, many of which he didn't knew the names of. He could only make out a few combs and brushes, as well as a tube of hair gel.

Wendy hummed as she picked up a comb and went back to sit next to the boy who was already bracing for the worst while Bebe moved on to paint the nails on his other hand. Wendy twirled the comb between her fingers and took a deep breath before starting to work, being as careful as she could when untangling Kyle's unruly hair.

"Shiiit-" Kyle sucked in a sharp breath through his gritted teeth, his head tilting back when Wendy pulled a bit too hard on a particular lock of his hair.

"Oh gosh darn it! Can you _please_ try to stop moving? I know that it hurts, but you have to put up with it."

"Alright, alright, got it." The redhead replied with a sigh as he tried to relax.

"That's a good boy." Bebe teased, chuckling softly. "Do you want some candy after that?"

"I'm not a kid, Bebe." Kyle rolled his eyes, though he couldn't fight the smile creeping up on his lips. "But I'm not gonna let down such an offer."

* * *

Stan hurried to plug the charger in his phone as soon as he went back to the room. He impatiently waited for the phone to turn on, then opened the contacts app and dialed his friend. The phone rang twice before Kyle answered, but that voice... definitely wasn't his

"Oh hey, it's your boyfriend!"

Wait, is that Bebe?

"Wendy and him broke up three days ago! That doesn't mean he automatically becomes my- ooffffuck!" Kyle grunted and Stan could only wonder what they were doing. "Just give me the phone! _Please._"

"Hmmm... Nope!"

"Okay, at least put it on speaker!" Bebe apparently complied, so Kyle continued, "Hey dude, I'm kind of -ugh- busy right now."

"Uh... Define 'busy' because I'm really confused."

"It's complicated." Kyle simply said, followed by a nervous laugh instead of an explanation.

"I'm almost finished, hold on!"

What the- _Wendy_?

"Finally!" The redhead exclaimed. "I'm coming in a few minutes, okay? Or probably in an hour." He called out to his friend and then Bebe hung up, leaving Stan speechless and extremely confused.

"O...kay..." He answered more to himself after the call ended and laid down on his bed to wait for Kyle.

Stan counted the seconds and minutes that passed until his friend finally arrived, looking like a model from the cover of some magazine. The first thing that he noticed was Kyle's hair which normally went in practically every direction, but now it was combed and slicked back with a just a few rebellious strands falling down in front of his left eye. Stan's gaze traveled to Kyle's hand when the latter lifted it up to brush aside the said strands of hair.

"Holy shit." Stan muttered after a few seconds of silence.

"What? Is it that bad?" Kyle asked as he moved closer to sit on his own bed. "I told them that I don't need the gel-"

"Dude! Are you kidding?" The raven-haired boy pushed himself up, sitting across from his friend as his lips stretched in a huge smile. "I don't know what they did to you, but you're just- wow. I mean, I still regret that I left you to Bebe's mercy while I talked to Wendy, but..."

Kyle raised an eyebrow, amused at Stan's reactions. 

"Really? It was mostly torture, but... I guess that's how it is." He chuckled and that simple sound was the last straw for Stan who eagerly closed the distance between them, his hands finding their way on the bed next to Kyle's legs. The latter almost fell back from the sudden movement, but he also found support on his own hands. "Woah, dude-" His cheeks quickly heated up as his friend towered above him. "That escalated quickly."

"Sorry to startle you like that, but- damn." Stan offered an apologetic smile, then leaned forward again, his nose twitching slightly. "Is that a new cologne or something? Because it's fucking great and I want to know where you got it from so I can get it for me too."

"...Seriously?" Kyle deadpanned, letting out an exasperated sigh as he let his body fall down to the bed. This messed up his hair a little and Wendy was so gonna kill him, but it was inevitable.

"Just kidding." Stan hurriedly added and bent down even more to press his lips to the other's cheek. "I mean, I really like it, but I think it suits you better."

"Stan." Kyle almost growled as a warning, his hands flying up to grip the collar of his friend's shirt.

"Wh-what? I said something wrong again, didn't I?"

"Just shut up and kiss me properly, dumbass." The redhead whispered as he pulled Stan down to the point where he could feel his warm breath tickling his lips.

Stan quickly complied and shut his mouth in favor of doing what Kyle told him, the corners of his lips curling up slightly as he crawled over on the bed careful to not disrupt the kiss. In contrast to that, his friend let out a low groan and grasped his thighs to pull him closer, even though it was already physically impossible as their bodies were pressed to one another, almost like puzzle pieces fitting together. It just felt so _right._

Kyle was the first to pull back and he opened his eyes slowly as he took a shaky breath.

"Is this okay with you?" He whispered as he was suddenly unable to find his voice. Stan nodded slightly in response and managed to take a breath just now, letting it out slowly. "Just tell me if there's something that bothers you." He received another nod from his friend who lifted up his arm to place it above Kyle's head.

"Same goes for you." Stan muttered as he moved forward to connect their lips again for a brief moment, then proceeded to trail a path of kisses down from Kyle's jawline, then to his neck, collarbone and shoulder where it was showing from underneath his shirt. The latter hummed quietly in response as he tilted his head back to provide a better access to his neck. His hands moved almost agonizingly slow, sliding up Stan's back and lifting his shirt in the process. The raven-haired boy knew very well what that meant, but he sat up, fighting the urge to just get rid of their clothes this very moment without even having time to blink. Still, he appreciated that moment when they were both red-faced, the silence being broken only by their uneven breathing, Kyle laying there completely surrendering his body to Stan as his eyes reflected the lamp's light, making them look like beautiful emeralds- and all that sappy shit that flooded Stan's mind right now.

"What is it?" Kyle asked quietly, his brows furrowing in confusion as he let his hand fall down on the other boy's thighs.

"Um, did you lock the door when you came back?"

The redhead slowly came back to reality as he racked his brain for an answer.

"No... I forgot."

"Okay. Be right back." Stan replied, bending down to steal another kiss from his friend, then stood up and went to lock the door. After he did that, he turned the lights off on his way back, though he immediately regretted it when he took a few steps and his knee came in contact with the edge of the bed. "Fuck-"

Kyle winced when he heard the thunk and pushed up on his elbows to get a better look at the dark form of his friend.

"Are you okay?"

"Yep. Yeah. I'm fine." Stan laughed it off awkwardly and crawled on the bed again when his eyes got used to the darkness.

"Should I go to open the curtains or-"

"I'm okay, really. Don't worry." He assured as he went back to his previous position on top of Kyle who nodded, still a bit unsure, but it all faded away when Stan suddenly slipped his hands under his shirt, not bothering to unbutton it. This earned him a surprised gasp from the redhead and an arm snaking around his neck.

"Holy shit-" Kyle mumbled under his breath, then bit his lower lip slightly. "Wait a second."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"You did nothing wrong - aside from making me wait, that is."

"Oh, uh, sorry? I was just enjoying the moment." Stan shifted around on the other's lap, pulling his hands back in the process.

"I figured." The redhead smiled reassuringly as he sat up, starting to unbutton his shirt. "But I want to take the lead for a bit if you don't mind."

"Uh, yeah, of course." Stan replied as his gaze fell down to his friend's slender, but athletic frame. "That would be awesome actually."

Kyle stopped for a moment to take in the sight of the other boy who stared at him like he was some kind of a treasure which shouldn't be touched or something.

"I think I'm gonna need a cigarette after that eyefuck."

"Dude!" Stan exclaimed, flustered because of Kyle's sudden boldness.

"What? It's like you haven't seen me before." Kyle finally shrugged that damn shirt off, letting it slide from his arms as he scooted closer to the other boy, casually sliding a knee between his legs. "Just relax like you did before you hit your knee."

Stan nodded slightly and lifted his head up to meet the redhead halfway, their lips slowly starting to work out a sync again despite the accidental turn-off from two or three minutes ago, maybe even more. Though the boys didn't really pay attention to that as Stan's hands lifted up to squeeze the life out of the latter's ass, receiving a muffled moan-more like a grunt- which reverberated through his whole body. Stan guessed that this was the perfect moment to swipe his tongue across Kyle's lower lip which was already pretty chapped and scabby from his unhealthy habit. Then again, Stan also had his habits so he couldn't really judge him. The taller boy slid his hands under the othar's collar to sink his now blunt nails -because of the two layers of that bothersome polish or whatever its name was- in his trapezius muscle as he sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth because of the slight sting on a particular sore spot on his lip. He was quick to move his hands to cup Stan's cheeks in order to stop him from pulling back and apologizing for the nth time today. And Stan really was going to do something like that, judging by the way he groaned and slid his palms from Kyle's waist to his shoulder blades, only to stop them on his ribcage. Though he was more insistent this time, so the redhead pulled back a short distance away, their lips still _almost_ touching.

"I was gonna say that-" He paused in favor of getting one more taste of those lips he quickly came to love. He let his arms fall to his sides, then settle at Kyle's hips as he raised his body slightly to come to said boy's eye-level. "It's getting really hot in here and you kinda forgot about me."

Sadly, his little moment of joy and equal height ended quickly when Kyle followed his movements in order to take his shirt off more easily with Stan raising his arms up, then letting them fall on his more-than-just-a-best-friend's shoulders as the latter threw the piece of clothing somewhere in the far end of the room.

Stan sighed in relief, letting himself fall back on the bed with a soft thud with Kyle following suit because of the tight grip on his shoulders. "That's better." He said, his voice falling to a whisper as he lowered his hands down, down, down... finally stopping at the redhead's waistband to unbuckle his belt, then take it off and throw it back, the item clinking against the floor as it came to a stop in the hallway.

"But do you realize..." Kyle began, sounding like he had just run two lapses of a ten-miles track even though they haven't done anything more special than some making out and undressing since coming back to the room. "...that you haven't told me how you're gonna pay me back for that hickey?..."

"Yeah, about that... You can take a double revenge for that." Stan replied, relaxing back as his hands found their way on the other boy's neck again, fingers playing around with his (once again) messy hair.

"Oh really?" Kyle raised an eyebrow as his left canine tooth nibbled on his lower lip instinctively. "Do I get to choose the places?"

Stan was probably going to regret that later, but he answered with a simple nod as his friend went down to work above his right collarbone while his lower body pressed down-  
and someone knocked at the door, seemingly with no intention to stop until someone answered them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 4


	8. Cartman and no more chill

"Are you kidding me right now?" Kyle muttered as he lifted his head up, his face contorted in a deep frown.

"Dude, just let them be and they'll go away soon." Stan whispered and grasped his friend's shoulders to try and hold him down, but it didn't really work. The redhead pushed his hands away and stood up, storming off to the door to see who was the person that dared to interrupt them... and probably break their neck. No, scratch that, he wasn't that angry... Right?

Needless to say, Stan hurried to find his T-shirt, but the problem was that it was black and the room was too dark. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, already hearing the door unlocking and opening. He thought, fuck it, and settled on wearing Kyle's (thankfully) oversized shirt. Oh, the benefits of having a friend who likes wearing baggy clothes.

"For fuck's sake, Cartman! What do you want?" His friend almost shouted, but he luckily managed to keep his voice down.

"Woah there, Jew boy. You don't want any unnecessary attention from the passersby, do you?" The brunet took Kyle's gaze flicking to the few people going up or down the stairs as a cue to continue. "Just hear me out, _Kahl_, I really don't have anyone else to turn to right now. I know it must be surprising when it's coming from a guy like me who has many friends, but-"

"Uh... Cartman?" Stan appeared from behind Kyle, moving to stand next to him. "You got something important to say?"

"Actually he was just leaving." Kyle answered before Cartman could open his mouth and swung the door closed, but that _fucker_ slapped a hand on the door, holding it still.

"C'mon, _Kahl_, why do you have to be so rude? We've been _friends_ ever since elementary school!" Cartman whined and imitated a sniffle. "Jimmy, _Kinny_ and Butters are sleeping, Craig and Tweek are fucking and- I don't know where to gooo!" He fake-lamented. "I'm _seriously_, you guuuys! Heidi left me-"

"Kyle..." Stan whispered and patted his friend's shoulder. 

The redhead looked at him, already knowing that Stan would want to help even Cartman, then turned his attention back at Cartman as he growled, "If you do or say something annoying, you're out." He moved aside to make room for the fat boy to walk past him and sighed. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

To Stan and Kyle's surprise, Cartman practically moved in their room with all his belongings which consisted of two bags and a backpack which was probably filled to the brim with snacks. The brunet left his belongings next to the small coffee table in front of the beds and sat on one of the chairs with a quiet 'oof'. Meanwhile, Kyle turned to Stan, raising an inquisitive brow upon seeing him with the redhead's shirt.

"Dude, why are you..." He whispered so as to not let their visitor hear him.

"I couldn't find mine, okay?" Stan countered, also whispering. "By the way your belt is here if you want it." He raised his hand which currently held the said item.

"Well... You know what," The redhead began while he busied himself with buttoning the shirt and then straightening the collar to hide the faint red mark on the other boy's neck. After that he took his belt, suppresing the urge to ask how it had gotten all the way in the hall in the first place. "Get me some clothes and tell the fatass that I'm going to take a shower, because I sure as hell look like shit now."

"Dude, you don't look-"

"Ey, what are you guys doing?" Cartman raised his voice, then clicked his tongue in annoyance. "It's dark as fuck here..."

"Nothing! I'm coming!" Stan called back to which Cartman responded with an 'ew, gaaaaay'. "Dude! Not in that way!" He turned back to Kyle, his brows furrowing slightly as he lowered his voice to a whisper again. "So you're gonna leave me to talk to him _alone_?"

"Five minutes." Kyle simply said as he reached out over Stan to open the bathroom door, then bent down to brush his lips against the other's slightly. "You'll endure that much. After all, you're the one who wants to help him, not me."

"Okay, okay." The raven-haired boy said with a sigh and pushed his friend aside as he did with his will to just get in his pants right then and there. But with _that_ turn-off that was currently sitting a few feet away from them and munching on comfort food, it would be hard.

And so, after Kyle entered the bathroom, Stan returned to Cartman, turning the lights on on his way. He put a polite smile on his face and went on to find clothes for his friend.

"So, what exactly happened with Heidi?"

"I don't really know," Cartman said, rolling his words around while stuffing his mouth with his favorite Cheesy Poofs. "She jus' got angry because apparently I was not good enough for her or somethin'. I mean, I _am_ good enough, but she doesn't see it!"

"Dude, you should just go and apologize." Stan said as a matter of fact as he went back to the bathroom and opened the door to give the clothes to Kyle while looking away.

"For what though? I didn't do anything wrong!" Cartman protested, then followed the other boy's movements with his eyes even when Stan disappeared in the hallway, causing Cartman to crane his neck. "Ey, you listening?"

"Yeah. Yep." Okay, maybe his tactic of looking away didn't work, especially when Kyle reached out to take the clothes, muttering a quiet 'thank you' as his fingers lingered on Stan 's hand for more than a second. _Well, shit._ "Uh... What was I- Oh, right!" Stan quickly pulled his hand back and went back to the coffee table, sitting on a chair across from Cartman. "What I wanted to say was - you have to apologize if you want Heidi back, because, well, that's how girls are, I guess. Maybe they just like it when a man swallows his pride to tell her she was right or something."

"Oh, ahahahaha- no. I'm so not doing that." The brunet continued to munch away his "sadness" while his eyes scanned the surroundings. "By the way, what were you homos up to? Your room looks like a fucking battlefield." He nodded to Kyle's bed where the sheets were, well, everywhere - mostly on the floor along with the blanket.

"Uh... Kyle moves around too much in his sleep."

"It's four o'clock in the afternoon."

"So...? It's none of your business, Cartman."

"So you fucked."

"No, we didn't!"

"So you _did_ fuck! That's so laaame." 

"God dammit, Cartman!" At this point Stan was looking down, pinching the bridge of his nose and his face was almost as red as a tomato. "Just don't bring up that kind of shit."

"Aw, you're no fun." Cartman sighed and looked around again just as Kyle stepped out of the bathroom and joined them, this time fully dressed. "Oh, look who's back! The flaming homosexual himself."

"Fuck off, fatass." Kyle shot back, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "And what are you still doing here?" 

"Isn't it obvious? I'm _devastaded_ because of my break-up!" Cartman put a hand against his chest dramatically. "Also your boyfriend here is trying to give me some advice, but so far he isn't helping much."

"He's not my- Oh fuck it! You know what?" Kyle reached out and took a chair, placing it in front of Cartman to sit there. "Tell me what's on your mind. And hurry up before my patience runs out and I kick you out."

"Not kewl, Kahl, not kewl at all." Cartman muttered after a moment, then turned to Stan. "Staaan, your boyfriend's threatening me!"

"God fucking damn it." Said boy let out an exasperated sigh and looked at Kyle. "He said that Heidi didn't think he was good enough for her. That's it."

"Seriously, Cartman?" Kyle deadpanned, then jabbed a finger at the brunet's chest. "Just go and apologize even if you did nothing wrong -which I'm sure you did- and take her out on a dinner or something, with candles and romantic music and shit."

"Woah." Cartman blinked a few times, his eyebrows raising up. "First of all, don't touch me with your dirty Jew hands. Second, what the fuck? I'm not apologizing, 'cause I didn't do shit!"

"Well, good luck." Stan regarded his friend, then stood up and headed to the balcony, grabbing his cigarettes and lighter on his way out. "Just don't fight, okay? 

"Yep. That would be absolutely easy, thank you very much for the advice!" Kyle called out, then turned back to Cartman with a sigh. "Look, just take Heidi to a nice dinner at the restaurant downstairs and... I don't know."

"Okay, mr. Know-it-all, expert on relationships. Is this seriously your best idea?" Cartman deadpanned and finished his Cheesy Poofs by licking his fingers.

Kyle curled the corner of his upper lip in disgust and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, that's it. And don't forget to shower her with compliments and be on your best behavior if you even know what that means."

"Ey! Of course I know!" Cartman protested, then stood up.

"Great!" Kyle also stood up and moved to stand behind the other to push his back. "Now go."

"I know, Kahl! Stop touching me!" Cartman wiggled around to get Kyle's hands off him and went out of the room quickly, but before he reached the hall, he flipped off the redhead to which the latter responded with the same gesture.

Kyle sighed in relief after the brunet disappeared from his sight and took his jacket, then another one for Stan as he went on the balcony.

"Hey. The coast is clear." He said to his friend who has already reached the half of his cigarette and was now leaning on the railing with his back turned to the door. Kyle raised Stan's jacket to cover his shoulders, then shrugged on his own.

"Thank God!" Stan excaimed, then turned around to face Kyle. "You didn't hit him, did you?" He asked, raising a brow suspiciously while fixing the jacket with his free hand.

"Well I wanted to, but I didn't." The redhead smiled and took the cigarette rather unceremoniously, holding it between his lips as he sat down on one of the chairs beside them. "Dude, is that menthol?" He frowned after letting out a puff of smoke.

"Yes. Yes it is." Stan grunted and reached out to take his cigarette back, but Kyle pulled his hand back, keeping Stan's wanted possession away from his grip. "Hey! Give it back!" He reached again, but that only caused the other to move his arm around, succesfully dodging Stan's hand.

"Nope! Smoking is bad for your lungs, remember?"

"Dude! Stop messing around, it's gonna burn out!"

"Oops."

Kyle let out a quiet chuckle and brought the cigarette to his lips to take another drag while Stan tried to get the cigarette again, but to no avail. He grunted and grabbed Kyle's wrist, pinning it to the wall behind him, but the latter followed his example and caught his free hand.

"God dammit!" Stan squirmed around to try and free his hand, but he stopped after a second or two. "Okay, okay, I give up. You win."

"What? You'll give up so easily? Dude, you're really-" The redhead was cut off by the other boy who settled one knee between his legs and bent down, kissing him like his life depended on it. He felt Stan's hand creep up his wrist and palm before he twined their fingers together, taking the cigarette carefully, then letting go of Kyle's hand.

"Gotcha." Stan whispered as he pulled away with a smirk. "And no, I do not give up easily."

"Well," Kyle let out a breathy laugh and looked up, locking his gaze on Stan's puckered lips when he took a long drag of the cigarette before putting it out in the ashtray on the table beside them. "I let you win, so..."

"Dude. You looked like your mind was absolutely blank at that moment." The raven-haired boy raised an eyebrow with a proud smile on his face.

"It wasn't!"

"It's no use if you try to deny things if you know they're true." Stan teased, earning an eye-roll from his friend. He stood back up, but shivered as the wind picked up suddenly. "Wait- Oh shit! Dude, are you crazy?! Let's get inside!"

"Uh? What happened?" Kyle's brows furrowed in confusion, but he also stood up and followed Stan inside, closing the door after him. "Did you see something or...?"

"No! Your hair is still wet and you went outside in the cold." At this point Stan was frantically looking around for a towel and when he found one, he brought it over to Kyle, covering his head with it as he ruffled his hair. "You can be really stupid sometimes, you know."

"Yeah..." Kyle smiled sheepishly and moved to sit on his bed with his friend's hands still on his head. "Thanks, but Wendy's gonna kill you if she finds out you messed with my hair."

Stan freezed in his place, his eyebrows shooting up immediately.

"Wendy did your hair?"

"Yeah, with some help from Bebe."

"Bebe helped Wendy with doing your hair?"

"Uh... yeah?"

"Dude!" Stan exclaimed, dropping down to sit on his own bed. "I thought you only let me touch your hair!"

"Yeah...?" Kyle repeated, then raised a hand to hold the towel steady on his head. "They were really insistent with all their wanting to fix stuff. Though you're still more special, so you don't need to be jealous because of things like that. I mean, we aren't in a relationship or anything."

"Oh... right." Stan muttered after a moment of silence, then smiled awkwardly and proceeded with his previous actions. "I mean, I knew that, it's just that I... I don't know, got carried away or something? Don't mind me."

Kyle's eyes took in Stan's expressions as he finally decided - fuck it and most importantly fuck those boundaries called 'relationships' and 'friends with benefits'. He just felt it was right to lean forward and press his lips gently on Stan's cheekbone, then down to the corner of his lips while his arms pulled the other's upper body forward to embrace him.

"Dude, you don't need to- I'm really not mad at such a trivial thing." Stan protested and laughed it off as his free hand went to pat his friend's back.

"I know. But you're really confusing sometimes, so I'm not taking risks."

"Well shit." Stan muttered under his breath when he felt as if his heart dropped in his stomach, then jump back up, beating at an impossible speed. "I uh... I'm alright now, thank you." He carefully pushed Kyle back and stood up. "Also, I'm not finished with your hair, so stay still."

Kyle just nodded in response, silently thanking Stan that he pulled away before his own heart broke out of his ribcage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8 chapters and Stan and Kyle are still not really cooperating with me, I mean - seriously, guys, just say that you love each other already, jeez
> 
> 'dude' counter: 12


	9. Discoveries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: another steamy scene(that I kinda feel guilty for because of writing it right after that flashback)
> 
> also i don't know whether or not i should change the rating to explicit, even though there aren't really specific or obscene descriptions... i'm confusionnnn

"Hey, Stan! Look what I made!" A little boy, probably around 7 or 8 years-old, called out.

_Kyle?_

"Oh, what's this?" Another boy inquired as he ran up to his friend. "Dude! This is awesome!"

_Wait, is that... me?_

The mini-version of Stan smiled from ear to ear as he excitedly lifted up a bracelet made of little colorful beads on a string. There was pure joy in both of the boys' eyes as the dark-haired one examined the bracelet and his friend bounced on his feet.

"Try it on, try it on!" The redhead repeated unpatiently.

_Geez, I guess he was always that unpatient, wasn't he?_

Mini-Stan quickly complied, putting the bracelet on his thin hand as he rotated his wrist this way and that before he looked up to meet his friend's eyes. At this point the little redhead was smiling almost as wide as the other boy, his lower lip tucked under his teeth.

_And that habit too..._

"Well? Do you like it?" Mini-Kyle asked after a second. "It's a friendship bracelet. I have the same too! Y'know, Mom said that I should give such bracelets only to people that I really, really, really, really love and I want to stay with them forever, so-"

"Kyle, please, slow down." His friend put a hand to his mouth to stop his speed-talking. "It's perfect! I promise I won't take it off. I love you too, dude." The little version of Stan confirmed his statement by pressing his lips to his knuckles, then pulled back as he retreated his hand, revealing a wide-eyed and blushing Kyle.

"Woah."

_Woah indeed._

"Stan, wait!" The little redhead called again as his friend started to leave, his hand grasping the other boy's shoulder. The latter turned around, his mouth opening to say something, but he was quickly shut down by mini-Kyle puckering up and pressing his lips on his friend's, their noses smashing together. As he pulled back, the boy flashed a big smile to his dazed friend. "That's how the grown-ups do it, right? ...Stan?"

"Stan?... Stan? Hey! Stan!"

"Wh- What is it?" Said boy woke up from his daze and blinked a few times at the grown-up version of his friend who was currently looming over him on the bed, his brows furrowed and his face red and sweaty as he looked down worriedly. "Huh?" Stan's gaze traveled further down from the redhead's bare shoulders to his chest and stomach, then to his own body... "Oh shit!"

"Yeah, shit." Kyle echoed as he shifted his weight to his left elbow in order to cup Stan's cheek with his right hand. "We were in the middle of something, but you just passed out and..."

"Oh my- I did?!" Stan brought a hand to his face- or at least he tried as it seemed like his arms wouldn't move for some reason. He craned his neck to look back at the cause of his immobility to find his wrists bound to the board of the bed with a... silk tie? ...What? "Holy fuck. I'm- I'm really sorry, I don't know how that happened!" He regarded the redhead again as his legs shifted uncomfortably, knees coming together only to be met with Kyle's hip bones.

"Dude, calm down. I don't want you passing out again." The redhead quietly said as his thumb trailed Stan's cheek in soothing circles. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt? Do you need water or something?" 

"I, uhhh... Water. Water sounds nice."

He watched as his friend nodded curtly and untied him before standing up to make his way through the dark room, then grab an empty cup from the table and run off to the bathroom to fill it with water.

_Okay, so Cartman came to take his bags, then left after a lot of flipping off between him and Kyle... Then I locked the door and finished with drying Kyle's hair and then we kissed... Then we undressed and kissed some more and... somehow we ended up like this, with Kyle asking me at least a hundred times if I was okay with my hands tied, so I assured him it was fine... And then... Then what? Come on, brain, think! Did I just pass out because of low blood sugar?? That's fucking lame, Stanley! Ah fuck, I sound like a mix between Cartman and my mother... Wait, no! No, no, no! God damn it, now I'll never unsee this! Kyle, please, come back so I can wash away the image by looking at you- Wait, what? Fuck you, Stan, that's gay. Stop thinking weird things about your- ...Huh? My what now? Friend? Super best friend? Lover? Fuck buddy? Gorgeous redhead who was probably in love with me for more than 10 years? An adorable kid with squeezable cheeks full of freckles who grew up to become a short-tempered, but loving and smart man? The only person that I ever kissed without throwing up? Come to think about it, I stopped throwing up when Wendy kissed me just because I thought about him- but wait. How- How didn't I see it until now? God, I must be really dumb to realize this just now. But... It isn't too late, right?_

"Here." Kyle said as Stan snapped out of it again and slowly sat up. He took the cup that his friend offered and gulped the water quickly, then left the cup at the nightstand beside the bed. "Are you feeling better now?"

The raven-haired boy stared at the other's worried expression, not even trying to fight back the warm smile that creeped on his lips. Oh, he was so deeply in love, that idiot.

"Much better." He replied, his voice barely a whisper as he reached out to catch Kyle's hands, pulling him back down on the bed. "But do you know what would be better?"

The redhead leaned on his arms when Stan placed his hands beside his hips. He seemed to notice the shift in the atmosphere, judging by his flushed face and the biting of his lower lip.

"What?" Kyle unwillingly let out a nervous chuckle, his weight shifting as he climbed on the bed and over the other boy again, hands moving up slowly to stop on the other's shoulders. Instead of a response, he received a pair of thin soft lips on his own as Stan's body raised up to gently push the other down, slowly, but surely crawling on top of him. He even dared to nibble lightly on his friend's already hurt lip, then slide the tip of his tongue over it- but Kyle pulled back, his breath unsteady as he looked away. "Wait, I don't really... I can't... I can't kiss like this."

"Well... Do you want to try then?" Stan asked, his eyes flicking around as he absentmindedly started to count the freckles on the other's face. "It's okay if you don't want it though."

"I mean, yeah. I wanna try, but only if it doesn't bother you too much." Kyle regarded him again as his hands came to rest on his shoulder blades, feeling the muscles move when Stan bent down to kiss him again.

"Just follow my lead, okay?" The latter muttered and placed a hand on the side of his friend's neck as he slid his tongue in his mouth again, slower this time. Kyle just went with the flow, his lips parting even more while the other moved his tongue around his. This soon grew into a battle for dominance as the redhead got the hang of it, his hands now sliding down for his fingers to sink right under Stan's lower back and in the soft skin of his ass, followed by the latter's hip bucking in response and Kyle doing the same to meet him halfway and grind against him. The raven-haired boy was more than happy to feel, rather than see, that his friend was already done with the needed preparations down there, not that he remembered when that happened exactly, but that didn't matter now.

Kyle almost whined when the other boy pulled away after a few seconds, accompanied by a finishing lick on his upper lip.

"Sorry, I just... My legs started hurting a bit."

The redhead simply nodded before sitting up with Stan following suit while they continued to impatiently pepper each other's faces with kisses. Though Stan stopped in favor of letting his body fall back on the bed.

"You okay now?" Kyle whispered as his hands hooked under his friend's knees to hold his legs up before properly positioning himself and pushing in slowly. Now it was Stan's turn to bite his lower lip as his eyes fluttered closed and he gripped the sheets beneath him.

"Yea- Oh fuck! Dude!" Kyle let out a quiet 'hm?' as he stopped to look at Stan arching his back and groan beneath him. "Can you go a little faster?"

"Whatever you say, boss." The redhead bent down to leave a rather gentle kiss on his friend's lips, contrasting with the sharp movements of his hips.

_"That's how grown-ups do it, right?"_

Stan still couldn't get this phrase out of his mind. It was repeating itself over and over in his head with Kyle's voice constantly changing to sound like him right now. That was until Kyle hit a particular sweet spot, causing his friend to throw his arms around his neck, pulling him close and gripping a few locks of hair while repeating 'fuck', 'yes' and 'right there', his voice already straining with the effort to restrain from screaming. Thankfully, the redhead was quick to seal his lips with his own and he caught Stan's left hand, navigating it down on the bed to press it there and entwine their fingers, the grip gradually growing impossibly strong after a minute. Their breathing seemed to become one, their muffled grunts and moans mixing together while teeth clashed with tongues, then lips and noses - everything just became a haze after that messy kiss. Kyle was building up a faster, almost frantic pace as he hit that sweet, sweet spot again and again while Stan just went to autopilot, squeezing his friend's hand and digging his short nails and scratching on his back, though he came to a stop when he felt his calf there, tightly pressing on the other boy's lower back.

_How did that end up there again?_

_No, nevermind, it doesn't matter._

Next thing that Stan knew when he snapped out of the daze was that they were laying there completely exhausted and trying to catch their breath. He turned his head after a second to look at the redhead who was currently laying next to him out of breath, red-faced, his eyes closed and with an arm lazily splayed around his friend's torso.

"Hey... Are _you_ okay?" Stan slowly asked after a few seconds despite his dehydrated mouth. He received a quiet 'mhm' from the other who opened his eyes to look at him.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah? What is it?"

"You said that..." Kyle cleared his throat, then pushed up slightly, leaning on his elbow to have a better look at his friend's face as his next words came in a whisper. "...that you loved me. Which would be, uh, well, totally okay if you said it under other circumstances... I mean, not that I, uh-"

"Wha- Wait. I did?" Stan's eyes shot wide open, his blood quickly draining from his face.

_Well, shit._

"Yeah, between all the 'fuck's and 'oh's. You kinda blurted it out of nowhere."

_Fuck, fuck, fuuuck-_

Before Stan could even register it, he shot up to sit on the edge of the bed with his back turned to his friend. That didn't go well with his low blood pressure as his vision went almost black and his limbs tingled uncomfortably, refusing to work normally. He stood like that for a few seconds, trying to shake the feeling off until his vision cleared up. He looked around to search for his clothes among the mess on the floor, but he gave up soon and just moved to stand up despite the light graze of Kyle's fingers on his back.

"Can we talk about it tomorrow? I'm not really in a condition to think straight right now."

_That's probably because you're not straight, dumbass._

_Okay, fuck you very much, brain. You're not helping me at all._

Thankfully, Kyle was thoughtful enough to respect his friend's boundaries instead of pushing further on the subject. One of the many things that Stan liked in him. He felt a pang of guilt hitting deep in his throat, but he quickly swallowed it down and went on a search for at least his underwear which was luckily laying on his bed. The raven-haired boy quickly retrieved that item, putting it on before laying down on the too cold bed. He regretted leaving the warm embrace of the redhead, but he felt it was right in that moment, it helped him think. He heard the latter sigh, then shift in his bed to stand up and go to the bathroom.

The sound of the bathroom door closing was the last thing that Stan heard before he forced himself to drift off in a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uuuuuuuhhhhhhh I still can't believe that I wrote such a scene and it's bad and I'm sorry, but hey- at least I can excuse myself with it being a part of the clichés in sex scenes! ...right? ;;
> 
> 'dude' counter: 4


	10. Discoveries pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy new year, guys!  
first I need to tell you that my updates on this will slow down after the 14th chapter which I haven't finished yet because my brain decided that it would be a great idea to start another fanfic even though I haven't finished this one :')
> 
> anyway, you can go on and read now :D

Is it wrong to be in love with your best friend? 

That's what Kyle asked himself as he stared at his reflection in the mirror while his hands gripped the sink's edge so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He whispered to his reflection who copied his movements perfectly. "You just couldn't wait until tomorrow to talk about that. No, instead you acted on impulse again and probably made Stan uncomfortable and now he's surely mad at you. Dumbass." He growled at his reflection who stared back at him angrily. He clicked his tongue and moved his hands to run them through his hair, his gaze drifting down to the floor. His thoughts immediately went back to imagine those beautiful blue eyes staring back at him so lovingly, the next moment filling with overwhelming passion that was meant to be seen only by him, and the hands in his hair, so careful and tender and-

_That's fucking gay._

_Oh, wait. I'm gay._

The redhead opened his eyes slowly, hands falling down to the sink again to turn the faucet. He watched absentmindedly the running water, then cupped his palms under it and bent down to splash the cold liquid on his face.

He should probably talk to his friend tomorrow so they could sort things out... And maybe come up with some rules or something so they don't go and act like they're actually boyfriends again. Because, well, there was no way that Stan wanted them to be that way, right? That kind of thing would happen only in Kyle's dreams, not in the real world. Furthermore, it would be really insensitive to just go and steal Wendy's ex-boyfriend of a few days when they just started developing some kind of friendship after years of hating each other and fighting for Stan's attention.

Well, right now he needed some sleep, so he went back to the room with the intention to lay down and force himself to sleep, but instead he found himself staring at his friend's peaceful face with those kissable lips hanging slightly open...

Kyle just settled on planting a ginger kiss on the other's forehead before going back to his own bed and laying down to finally get some sleep.

* * *

**Crimson Dawn dudes + Stan’s boyfriend**

**Kenny**: hey guys  
**Kenny**: **@Stan @Kyle** you up?  
**Kenny**: **@Stan** i can see you're online, stop ignoring me  
**DudePower**: dude i'm trging to slep fuk u  
**DudePower**: tryyng*  
**DudePower**: oh fjck it  
**Kenny**: lolololol  
**DudePower**: just sau what you gonna say so i can gk back to sleep  
**Kenny**: so a few minutes ago Cartman came here and started talking about the usual shit he blabbers about every time  
**Kenny**: but this time  
**Kenny**: he said you guys were apparently fucking yesterday and i don't really know what his problem is with that and his reasons for telling us are still unknown to me, i mean it's fucking ridiculous  
**DudePower**: wait, so you believdd him? dude...  
**DudePower**: o wait  
**DudePower**: shit  
**DudePower**: did he say anything about specific hour or something?  
**Kenny**: he said he passed by your room around uhhh  
**SuperPunMan**: 23 sharp.  
**Kenny**: thanks jimmy  
**SuperPunMan**: No problem. I'm out now, gotta help Butters with the coffee.

**SuperPunMan has left the conversation.**

**KitKatKyle**: Kenny, it's 7:30, what the fuck are you asking first thing in the morning? -_-  
**KitKatKyle**: And I'm still waiting for you to change the fuxking group name.  
**Kenny**: chiiiiill dude  
**Kenny**: don't worry be happy :D  
**DudePower**: Kenny, pls  
**Kenny**: ok ok so did you really fuck or nah  
**KitKatKyle**: ...  
**KitKatKyle**: No, fuck you.  
**DudePower**: yea  
**KitKatKyle**: DUDE  
**Kenny**: i knew itttttttt iknewitiknewit  
**Kenny**: ooooohhhh i have so many questionsssss  
**Kenny**: come over for some coffee cuz i need details ;))) 

**DudePower has left the conversation.**

**KitKatKyle**: Traitor.

**KitKatKyle has left the conversation.**

* * *

"What the fuck, dude?" Kyle muttered as he turned around in the bed to face his friend. "What happened to 'we're not telling anyone'?"

"To the what now?" Stan's lips curled up in a nervous smile as he also turned to look at the redhead's angry face.

"You said it before passing out."

"Oh. Well that sucks ass." Awkward laughing. "I guess it's out of the question now that Cartman told on us."

Kyle's lips pressed in a tight line, his jaw clenching.

"You know what? Fuck it." He finally said and stood up to gather his clothes, completely neglecting the fact that it was already bright outside and Stan could see everything there is to see. And see everything he did, obviously. "Hey, where is my- Dude, did you take my shirt again?"

"Uh..." Stan trailed before averting his gaze from his friend's features below his waist. "Wha- What was the question?"

"I said- Hey!" Kyle's face turned beet red when he realized where the other boy was looking until now. He quickly pulled his blanket to cover himself and turned away again. "No, nevermind, I found it." He muttered and bent down to retrieve his shirt along with his underwear and jeans.

Stan chuckled and stood up to move closer and wrap his arms around his friend's waist.

"I'm sorry for staring, but... it was kinda inevitable." He shrugged and waited for the redhead to stand up again and give him an irritated side-gaze. "What? You don't like being seen?"

"Yes, how did you find out?" Kyle rolled his eyes and turned away again with a sigh. "It's another thing that I don't feel comfortable with. I mean, it's okay when it's dark, but otherwise it's... weird."

"Oh. Okay then. Sorry." Stan repeated, then pressed closer to graze his lips softly along a particular deep red mark on his friend's back. "Does that sting?" He asked quietly while observing the rest of the marks.

"Just a little bit. It's fine." The redhead replied, trying to sound normal and not embarassed at all. But then he felt Stan's hands raising from his stomach to rest on his chest, so he silently prayed that he wouldn't feel the frantic heartbeat underneath. "Um, Stan. Can I, uh, get dressed already? The others are waiting." He received a quiet sigh from his friend who complied and retreated his hands.

"So you're really not in the mood, are you?"

Kyle simply shook his head and muttered a quiet 'sorry' before sitting on the edge of his bed to get dressed. The other boy turned his back to him and followed his example with the clothes.

"I'll, uh... I'll tell you when I'm in the mood, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. But... I'll still get kisses in the meantime, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

With that their conversation died down and after they got prepared, the boys headed to their friends' room. When they got there, Stan knocked on the door three times, but the third knock kind of stopped mid-air as the door flew open to reveal a grinning Kenny.

"Gooood mooorning!" Kenny sing-songed and let Stan and Kyle in with a dramatic wave of his hands. "Come in, come in."

Stan laughed and Kyle just rolled his eyes. Nevertheless, they walked in and joined Butters and Jimmy who had already started drinking.

"Hey, fellas! You sure look good today!" Butters greeted, smiling from ear to ear.

"Good m-m-morning, guys." Jimmy also smiled as he regarded the two, then turned his attention only to Stan. "Hey, Stan, we were just discussing the s-song that you wrote for K-"

"Jimmy!" Kenny interrupted as he moved to sit next to his boyfriend. "There are more important things right now. Though the song is very good and the beat you came up with is just-" He stopped to bring a hand to his face, fingers pressing together as he kissed them with an exaggerated 'muah' which received a quiet 'oh jeez' from Butters.

"Um, okay, that's gonna be awkward." Kyle muttered as he nibbled on his lower lip again while looking at the only free chair left. And this time, neither Kenny nor Butters were willing to move. 

"Yeah, I forgot to bring a chair from our room." Stan added and averted his gaze. "Well, I can just stand, so uh... yeah. You can sit."

"Um, no. I was thinking that I should be the one standing."

"Nah, dude, you sit. I'm okay, really."

"Oh for fuck's sake-" Kyle exclaimed and sat down on the left side of the chair and turned sideways. "Just come here." Stan quickly complied so as to not annoy his friend further and reciprocated his pose on the other side of the chair. Kyle stood like that for a few seconds, then grunted. "Okay, that's not comfortable at all."

Stan was ready to stand up, but Kyle held him down after turning around and sitting in his lap grumpily.

"Before any of you says anything, this guy here is the one with more muscles and endurance," he pointed to Stan, then to himself, "and I'm the one who would die if someone is to sit on him, okay? And Kenny, I know what you're gonna say, don't you dare open your mouth!"

Kenny raised his hand to imitate a zipping motion, but he couldn't stop his lips from stretching in a wide smile.

"O-oh jeez. Kyle, i think you should calm down." Butters' gaze flicked between a thoroughly annoyed Kyle and Stan who looked too nervous to say anything. Then he looked at his boyfriend and lowered his voice to sound more serious. "And you better stop teasing them!" 

"I'm trying, Butters. And there are still no flying fists, so don't worry." Kyle assured with a wave of his hand.

"Okay, okay, so... How was it? Who topped?" Kenny asked, his remarkable shit-eating grin growing on his face again.

"Dude, there's no way that we're answering that." Stan replied and took his cup of coffee to take a sip while Kyle glared at Kenny.

"Okay, I'm out before you actually start talking about s-sex-related things." Jimmy said and stood up, taking his cup before heading to his room.

"Yeah, me too." Butters muttered and also raised from his seat. "Sorry, Ken." He bent down to press a light kiss on Kenny's lips, then followed Jimmy, saying something along the lines of 'let's watch funny animal videos!' to which the response was an excited 'yes!'.

"Oof..." Kenny sighed, then shook his head and looked back to the boys in front of him. "Okay, so let me change my question - who was the bottom?"

"Not me." Kyle mumbled and leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table as he took a sip of his coffee, seemingly not bothered by the question.

"Dude!" Stan protested, his cheeks quickly turning red. "Why did you-"

"Revenge is sweet." The redhead looked over his shoulder with a smirk, the tip of his tongue coming out to trail along his lower lip. He received a rather quick reaction to that from his friend who averted his gaze when he felt his jeans tightening. Obviously, Kyle felt it too, but he chose to ignore it and turned back to Kenny, smiling innocently.

"Oooh, that's nice. But have you tried to spice things up a little bit or nah? I mean, like taking shifts."

"Oh my god, Kenny- Why does it matter?" Stan complained while trying to wrap his arm around Kyle's waist, probably to move him away from his lap, but each time the latter would just push his hand away.

"Because," The blond boy began, his back straightening as his arms crossed in front of his chest, "it shows if you really trust your partner as much as they trust you... or something like that? I don't know, I just came up with it, but it sounds right."

This seemed to catch Kyle off guard so Stan successfully snaked his left arm around his waist, pulling him close and letting his forehead rest on the redhead's back.

"Well it makes sense." Kyle took another big gulp from his coffee and sighed as he let his hand fall down and find its way in Stan's palm as a way of admitting his defeat.

"I know~ I'm a genius!" Kenny smiled, his chest puffed out proudly. "Oh, but wait- I haven't finished with the questions."

Kyle gave a slight nod and a look meaning 'I'm listening even though I don't like it, but go on' as he raised his cup to bring it to his lips for the nth time in the past minute. Meanwhile Stan had found it more interesting to play around with Kyle's fingers instead of to listen to him and Kenny talk about their sex lives.

Next thing Stan knew, Kyle had turned his head to look at him again and was asking him something. though he didn't really catch on the question - he just saw lip movement and his friend's left eyebrow raising.

"Uh... W-what was the question again?"

Another eye-roll came from the redhead along with a sigh.

"I asked what would be more comfortable for you - you blowing me or me blowing you?"

"W-wha-what? Excuse me?" Stan almost spit his coffee out as his face started burning, almost scorching.

"See?" Kyle chuckled as he turned back to Kenny. "He gets flustered more easily than me." While he was talking, the redhead rolled his hips inconspicuously to make himself more comfortable, but it certainly didn't help Stan much as he tried anything he could to get rid of his really uncomfortable erection.

"Dude... That's not true." The latter laughed nervously while Kenny continued to ask questions like whether or not they had any kinks or just little fantasies, then moved on to a more important quiestion concerning the use of protection and proceeding to give the two boys a lecture about the importance of condoms and lubricant... which of course, a thoughtful person like Kyle would never forget to use, as he probably did last night before Stan passed out.

As nice and educational as their conversation was, it was soon interrupted by Kyle's phone ringing so he quickly answered it and stood up with a smile on his face.

"Hi, Bebe, how are you? ...Nice! Me too. ...Oh- now? Isn't it too early though? ...Oh... _Oh._ Okay! I'll see you in the lobby in ten. I just gotta take a warmer jacket. ...Okay, see you!" With that, he hang up and pocketed his phone.

Kenny and Stan stared at their friend with their eyebrows raised, eyes wide and mouths agape.

"What? Bebe? As in Bebe Stevens?" Kenny asked, his hand trying to take a grip on his cup, but failing miserably without his eyes' guidance. "When did _you_ become all buddy-buddy with _her_?"

"Don't ask." Kyle waved a hand dismissevely, accompanied by a light-hearted chuckle.

"So uh..." Stan started while pulling his shirt's hem down, "What are you gonna do?"

"Nothing much, I'll be teaching her how to play basketball." His words seemed to shock Kenny even more - he looked like his jaw would detach itself from his skull. Kyle used the moment to bend down and brush his lips on Stan's cheek as he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Sorry for leaving you in that condition, it was unintended. I'll make it up to you when I come back."

"Uh, yeah... Sure. Alright. Okay. Bye for now." Stan muttered, still dumbfounded, and with that, Kyle left without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these chats are a pain to write with all the opening and closing html tags...
> 
> 'dude' counter: 11(again, without the chat name and Stan's nickname in it)


	11. Basketball and crushes

A few hours from the beginning of the training session passed and, so far, Bebe was learning the main rules and techniques really fast. There were no injuries or chipped and broken nails, but the girl became exhausted pretty quick, so they had to take a break every 30 minutes or so.

After declaring the end of today's lesson, Kyle sat down on one of the benches in the court with Bebe following suit and leaning against the redhead's arm for additional support.

"Damn, I didn't know basketball could be so exhausting." Bebe said while popping open her water bottle. She felt the urge to just gulp down the water in one breath, but she reminded herself of Kyle's advice from their first break - drink water in small sips to keep your mouth and throat hydrated, and be careful with the amount of water intake as it can be a shock to your body.

"You'll get used to it, don't worry." Kyle offered a kind smile after he turned his head to regard the girl. "By the way, you're a really fast learner. I'm impressed."

"Well, you're a good teacher!" Bebe chirped after leaving the bottle aside. "But I wonder if I can impress Wendy too..." She finished with a sigh and averted her gaze, her cheeks painted with a faint rosy color.

"I take it you like Wendy as more than a friend?" Kyle stated, more than asked, and shifted to sit sideways with one leg tucked beneath his other one.

"Oh, I uh, I don't really- I don't know..." The girl bit her lip and twirled her ponytail with her fingers. "I mean, yeah, I guess I like her that way... You know, sometimes- No, actually most of the time she's just so, so kind and caring, and beautiful, and smart, and her laugh- and she's so incredible and amazing and gorgeous and soft to the touch-" Bebe rambled on and on with her eyes twinkling as she gazed forward absentmindedly, her smile only growing bigger. She stopped herself from talking after a few minutes and turned to look at Kyle who just stared at her with a knowing smile. "Have you ever felt that way? Having a big crush on someone even if that someone is in a relationship with somebody else and you know that your feelings are probably wrong, but you just want to hold that person and kiss them so bad that it hurts? Then again, even though I feel bad for her recent break-up with Stan, I feel like I finally have a chance with her."

"Oh, come here." Kyle cooed, instinctively entering a protective parent mode. Bebe complied, leaning forward to bump her forehead into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, his right palm drawing soothing lines on her back. The girl's shoulders shook slightly and she sniffled, her arms finding their way under Kyle's unzipped jacket and around his back as she almost squeezed the life out of him. She sure was strong for such a small girl and Kyle made a mental note to never piss her off. "I know how you feel. And I know that it's hard, but if you really want something, you have to fight for it. Maybe not with fists, more like with kind words and gestures to make the other person feel special."

"I- I'm tryiiing..." Bebe lamented and raised her head to look at the redhead with her already watery eyes. "I'm always dropping her signs, but it seems she doesn't notice them or... I don't know..." She sniffled again, then cast her gaze down. "And now I ruined my mascara and your shirt..."

"Don't worry about it." Kyle raised his left hand to caress the girl's head. "You can cry as much as you want if that will make you feel better. There, there." He proceeded to soothe Bebe by rocking back and forth slowly. "You know what, you can ask her out on a date and see if things work out. If they don't, well... there's still plenty of fish in the sea."

"But I want that particular fish!" Bebe replied, her voice becoming muffled as she snuggled against the redhead, succesfully smearing his shirt with makeup. "And what if she rejects me?"

"Aw, don't be so negative... Look, if that will make you feel better - I'm also afraid of rejection, but I still work hard and I try to speak my mind even if I or the other person is hurt in the process." Kyle thought for a moment, then added quietly, "Though I guess my case is a little different."

Bebe didn't move or say anything for a while until she calmed down. After a few minutes or so, she slowly detached herself from the boy in order to look at him and wipe her face with her sleeve.

"What's... What's different?" She asked after a few more sniffles.

"Well... Me and the person that I like... We're in a kind of complicated situation right now. These past few days were a really fucking weird rollercoaster and I don't really know if the ride's gonna take a turn for the better or for worse." The redhead let his arms fall to his lap and nibbled on his lower lip.

"So what's Stan like?" Bebe finally managed to calm down and she moved to sit cross-legged in front of the boy.

"Uh, I never said anything about Stan-"

"Come on, it's obvious that it's him. Did you forget that I'm a seer?"

Kyle shifted uncomfortably in his seat and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, he's... pretty much the male version of Wendy, but he's different and special in his own dorky ways. But sometimes I just want to strangle him for being so stupid."

"Awww." Bebe reached out to pat his hand and smiled. "That's so cute. But why is it difficult though? Doesn't he like you back? Because last night Wendy told me that Heidi told her that Cartman told her that he heard some interesting noises from your room."

"Wait, can you- can you repeat that slower? I kinda lost track after 'last night'."

"Okay, so Cartman told Heidi that he heard some noises coming from your room, so Heidi told Wendy and Wendy told me."

"That fucking fatass..." Kyle grunted and smacked a hand on his face.

"So it's true then?" Bebe started bouncing enthusiastically in her seat, a wide grin growing on her face. "So how was it? Did you use toys or something?"

"Dude!" The redhead exclaimed and jumped slightly in his seat, slapping his hands on his thighs. "Why does it even matter?"

"Because such things can really tell a lot about a person's character. Also, I'm trying to distract myself from thinking about Wendy."

"What about me?" A familiar voice called out from behind them and Bebe and Kyle quickly turned their heads towards the other girl who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was now standing on the other side of the court's fence, staring at them sceptically. 

"Nothing, we were talking about Wendy's and how Bebe wants to go there with you sometime." Kyle explained hastily before Bebe could open her mouth.

"Yeah! Their cheeseburgers are really nice! Right?" Bebe laughed nervously and punched Kyle's shoulder a little bit too hard, but he managed to keep smiling as he replied with a 'yep!'.

"Okay... Sure. I'll pretend I believe you." Wendy said with an eye-roll and started to walk around the fence to enter the court.

In the meantime, the blonde-haired girl turned to Kyle with a panicked expression.

"WhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?!" She whisper-shouted and gripped Kyle's sleeves. "She's going to see that I cried, please, please, please, help!"

"Woah, okay, okay. Calm down, take deep breaths." Kyle whispered, then turned slightly to the side to look at Wendy over his shoulder. Said girl came to a stop behind him and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Uh, hi again. I think she just got her period or something, I don't know."

"What?" Bebe almost shouted as she flicked her gaze between a nervous Kyle and unbelieving Wendy. "No, this right now is called PMS! I'm still not-"

"Okay, you don't need to explain it, just-" The redhead stood up, trying to look offended at the choose of topic, and regarded Wendy. "She was really in pain just a minute ago, but I couldn't do anything because I don't have any painkillers on me, so uh, just take care of her, okay? Nice talking to you, but I have to go because I promised something to someone and uh, see you later I guess, or probably tomorrow, I don't really know. Bye now and take care, Bebe! Don't forget to return the ball to the reception!"

"Now, what happened exactly?" Wendy sat down next to her friend while Kyle walked away. "Did he do something to hurt you?" 

"No, no. He was just teaching me basketball, but then my lower half decided to try and stab itself all over as a warning for the next week, so... now I need a lot of chocolate and hugs." Bebe tried to act like she's really in pain, but also laughed it off as if it was nothing, just imitating flinches here and there for authenticity.

"Oh... Don't worry, I'm here now." Wendy muttered and scooted closer to wrap her hands around her friend's waist. Bebe was quick to return the hug and lay her head on the other's chest. She also smiled and waved to Kyle behind Wendy's back as he passed near them to follow the path to the residence. "Come on, let's get back inside and get you some hot cocoa."

Bebe nodded slightly and after a long pause she just blurted out, "I really love you, Wendy."

Well, that was one of the downsides of being a girl who likes her girl friend - saying that you love her, but she just thinks of it as friendly love. And Wendy always seemed to react that way.

"I know." Wendy muttered, much to Bebe's surprise. That wasn't her usual response at all, so the blonde girl shot up quickly, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets as her mouth fell open with a few confused 'uh's coming out. "Don't look at me like that. You thought I wouldn't notice the change in your behavior from a few weeks ago?" Bebe still couldn't find the right words to say, so the other girl continued to talk. "Look, unlike Stan, I need more time to recover after the break-up. I know you're impatient, but just give me a few more days to think things over. You can do it, right? I don't want to do anything risky and end up hurting you."

Bebe finally nodded as a sign that she understood what her friend just told her and she stood up slowly. Wendy followed suit after taking the basketball which was aimlessly laying next to their feet. The girls headed towards the exit of the court with Bebe falling a little behind to take her phone and text Kyle in order to inform him about what happened after he left.

"Oh, and you can stop faking now, your period is coming in two weeks from now and I know it when you're really in pain." Wendy said almost too seriously, but then the corners of her lips lifted up in a small smile. "Also, I'll think about the date at Wendy's. For now, the hot cocoa offer will do the job."

Bebe stopped in the middle of her text to lift her head up and reply with a smile of her own. She knew she was a bad actor and that her friend could read her like an open book, but it was worth a try. 

"Okay! But can I just-"

"Yes, you can." Wendy seemed to understand her from half a sentence and offered her free hand for her friend to take. "Hand holding is fine."

"Okay." Bebe repeated and eagerly laced their fingers together, her other hand still gripping the phone as she completed the text with 'Thank you for setting me up for a date, she said she would think about it.' A reply came a few seconds later, saying 'Wish you luck!! I hope everything turns out fine.'

Wendy stole a quick side-glance at Bebe and raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just thanking Kyle for the free lessons." Bebe chirped and pocketed her phone quickly to turn her full attention to her friend. "And thank you too, for being so patient with me."

"Actually that's what _I_ should be saying, but... okay. You're welcome."

"Hey, by the way- Can I sleep next to you tonight?"

"...I take my words back." Wendy deadpanned and looked forward again, her pace quickening.

"Wait, no- I'm sorryyy!" Bebe called out and scrambled to catch up with her friend, though she broke off into a sprint, making their normal returning back to their room into a game of tag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 1


	12. Snowball fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: triggering scene ahead

Kyle went back to his room with Stan and tried opening the door, but it was locked. He figured that his friend was probably upstairs with his bandmates, so he headed back to the stairs just to be met by some kind of a wall- no, wait. That was way too soft to be a wall. And it yelled an offended 'ey!'.

_Well, shit._

"What the fuck, Cartman?! Watch where you're going!" Kyle took a step back and looked down to Cartman with the corner of his upper lip curling up in disgust at the mere thought of the fact that he just touched his archenemy.

"You watch where you're goin'! Respect _mah_ authority and keep your Jew hands off me!" Cartman shot back, his chest puffing out in an unsuccessful attempt to establish dominance.

"Oh, fuck off, fatass! I'm not in the mood for your shit." Kyle tried to walk away, but Cartman just barked a laugh and stepped aside to stop him from proceeding further. 

"Aw, really? What happened, Kahl? Stanny-boy isn't sucking your balls enough? -Oh wait, I forgot that you were the cock-sucker here~" Cartman grinned as he lowered his voice. "Tell me what it's like when he's balls deep in your-" 

"For fuck's sake, Cartman!" Kyle's hands balled into tight fists, his face quickly turning red with anger as his eyes narrowed. "You better shut that shit-eating mouth of yours before I-"

"Before you what, _Kahl_?" Cartman spat, "Hit me? You can't do that!" In the next moment, his eyes shot wide open and he actually gagged when Kyle's hand gave a warning squeeze to his throat, blunt nails digging in the skin there.

"That's how it feels," The redhead got in the other's face, lowering his voice to a low growl. "when you piss me off. Am I clear?" Cartman nodded a few times frantically, his hands shooting up to try and free himself, so Kyle let him go and stomped away without another word, leaving the other boy to cough and glare at him, though he didn't dare to say anything else.

* * *

"I need a drink." Kyle announced as he joined his friends in their room, pacing back and forth like a stormy cloud.

"Right away!" Kenny answered and hastily made his way to the mini-fridge to take a can of beer and give it to Kyle.

"Holy fuck, dude- What happened?" Stan moved to stand in front of the redhead, placing his hands on the other's shoulders to stop him from moving. "You okay?"

"Fucking Eric Cartman." Kyle muttered and shakily took a deep breath. "That fucking piece of shit-" He paused to take the beer can and open it, then chug it down in a few big gulps. "I was this close to actually strangling him!" 

"Well shit." Stan whispered and watched as Kyle lifted up a hand and extending his index finger and thumb to demonstrate his statement.

"Dude, your fingers are touching." Kenny pointed out, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, amusement and worry at the same time.

"Exactly!" The redhead grunted as his hands flew up to run them through his hair. "I don't know what happened, I just- He really pissed me off." He finished with a sigh and let his head to fall on Stan's shoulder. "Luckily I stopped in time, but if I didn't-"

"Then the world would have one less idiot. Problem solved." Kenny grinned, but he quickly became serious when Stan glared at him. The blond shook his head and patted Kyle's back. "I mean, don't stress over him so much. You know that's what he's living for - making people around him feel miserable, so if you just ignore him, he'll leave you alone."

Stan nodded in confirmation and moved a hand up to comb his fingers through Kyle's hair, guessing that that would make him feel less frustrated. Kyle hummed in approval, then lifted his head and wrapped his arms around Stan and Kenny, pulling them close.

"I'm sorry, hanging around with girls made me emotional." Kyle explained to which the other two laughed in response as they returned the hug.

"Hey, you know what we need?" Stan said after a second. "A nice walk in the forest. And we could probably take some photos too."

"That sounds good. I'm gonna ask Leo and Jimmy if they want to come." Kenny detached himself from the other two and headed to Jimmy's room. 

In the meantime, Stan also tried to pull back, but Kyle held him in one place, his now free arm snaking around his friend's waist.

"Don't move. It's too comfortable." The redhead mumbled against Stan's neck. Though it didn't look like he was comfortable at all with his neck painfully craned forward and to the side so that his head would rest on his friend's shoulder again.

"O-okay... If you say so." Stan smiled sheepishly and looked over to the door where Kenny disappeared a second ago. "So, uh... I guess you'll make it up to me after we get back? You know, about that thing in the morning."

"Yep. I haven't forgotten about that." Kyle muttered and the other boy froze in his place, trying to ignore the nice feeling of the redhead's voice reverberating through his body, and the tickling hair on his cheek and neck-

"Jimmy said he doesn't wanna come because it was too cold outside." Kenny said right after exiting the room with Butters by his side.

"Okay." Stan and Kyle replied in unison as they pulled back from each other.

"Did we interrupt something?" Butters asked quietly, his fists bumping together.

"Nah, dude. Everything's fine." Stan smiled nervously with Kyle following suit.

"Yeah. I mean, no. I can already feel myself getting dizzy, soo... I was just chilling while waiting for you." 

"Yeah, sure." Kenny rolled his eyes and chuckled. "That's what he said."

* * *

The boys walked across a frozen lake with Kenny assuring them that the ice was thick enough to not crack under their feet. Butters was still hesitant, so he took slowers steps while Kenny held him close with a protective arm wrapped around his boyfriend's waist. Stan and Kyle followed them slowly, but surely.

"I still don't think this is a good idea." Kyle muttered under his breath as he looked down at his feet. He raised his head to see how far they were from Kenny and Butters and opened his mouth to say something, but with the next step that he took, the ice suddenly seemed to become more slippery which made him lose his balance and fall backwards- but then a pair of arms caught him quickly, one grasping his left wrist while the other wrapped around his back. "Holy shit- Nice reflexes you got there." He looked up to see Stan who looked even more panicked than him probably.

"Dude... Are you okay?" Stan asked, his voice shaking slightly.

"Yeah, I just... slipped." Kyle replied, trying to catch his breath, then swallowed hard as his brain registered what happened just now. "I'm okay, so... do you mind maybe letting me go already?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sure. Sorry." Stan offered a half-smile as he pulled his friend up, though his hands didn't move from their current positions.

"Thank you." The redhead squeezed the other boy's hand while he concentrated on standing on his feet again, this time successfully keeping his balance thanks to Stan. His gaze flicked between their joined hands and his friend's absent eyes on his face. "What...? Is there something on my face?" As soon as he said that, he recalled that those words were the same that Stan said two days ago when they got here and Kyle was just staring at him like he was in love or something-

_Oh, wait. Does that mean that- No, no, it can't be._

_But why not though?_

_That would actually be great._

Kyle was leaning forward before he could even catch himself doing that. Stan's hand on his back gripped at the fabric of the his jacket and pushed forward slightly. They closed the distance between them almost too slow and unsure, each lost in their own worlds as their lips almost touched- _almost_.

"Hey, you gonna stand there all day? It's gonna get dark soon!" Kenny shouted to catch his friends' attention despite Butters' desperate hushed protests of 'shut up!' and 'you're spoiling their moment!"

And he succeeded as Stan and Kyle immediately pulled back from each other upon realizing what was happening and getting a grip on reality. They looked away, faces burning. Stan opened his mouth to try and say something, but failing miserably as his brain had become a jumbled mess while Kyle nibbled on his lower lip, his teeth pressing a so hard on the soft skin that he could feel the irony taste in his mouth. Okay, at least that helped him to realize what they should be doing instead of standing there like the two dumbasses that they were.

The redhead took a few steps forward, not caring at all for his balance-keeping and the lack of friction between the ice and his boots. He didn't bother to regard his still dazed friend as he said, "Come on, we're falling behind.", then proceeded to walk after Kenny and Butters.

"Uh, yeah... Coming." Stan muttered a second too late and followed the others, his eyes fixated on the surface beneath him. Did he do something wrong again? Kyle surely looked and sounded disappointed just a moment ago. But maybe it was just his imagination mixing with reality and playing tricks on him. Yeah. That was it. That's the only logical explanation to what happened, or rather, what could have happened if it wasn't for Kenny who separated them. Speaking of Kenny, he seemed to be receiving a lot of nagging from Butters right now.

Nevertheless, the rest of their trip across the lake to its other shore was silent, with Kyle looking around absentmindedly and Stan busying himself with snapping photos of the beautiful scenery around them, stopping every time he had to take the photos so he wouldn't slip or trip and fall.

_Like he fell for Kyle._

Wait, what?

Where did that even come from? He couldn't have possibly fallen for his best friend. Well, right now they were something like friends with benefits, but- there was that weird chemistry thing and the fact that there were a lot of strings attached instead of keeping their feelings away.

Stan decided to just push those thoughts away before they confused him even further and joined his friends who currently stood on the frosty line that was dividing the lake and the snow-covered grass. The raven-haired boy noticed their accidental choice of line-up with Butters on the right side, Kyle on the left and Kenny between them. It was like they were being sorted from the shortest to the tallest, so that would mean that Stan had to go between Kenny and Butters, but he didn't want to separate them. And there was also that feeling thst pulled him towards Kyle.

"Okay, I think that's good enough." Kenny declared with a smile as he took his phone, preparing the front camera, then extending his hand forward. His free hand went to Butters' shoulder, but Kyle and Stan weren't really cooperating, so he rolled his eyes and turned his head to them. "C'mon, my children, gather 'round and say cheese!"

Kyle grunted, but he stepped closer to Kenny. Stan followed suit after he took a deep breath to regain his composure and hopefully get his usual self to come out. He wrapped his arms around Kyle's torso and shot a wide smile to the camera just when Kenny and Butters did the same. Kyle was the odd one out who forgot what he had to do when he felt Stan's arms on him again. Kenny still took a few photos, a few of them capturing Kyle's shock, then the way he looked at the boy embracing him, his lips slowly turning in a warm smile as he lifted his right arm up to bring it over Stan's shoulders and pull him closer. He didn't even notice that Kenny had started recording a video as he lost track on his surroundings again, just focusing on Stan's face and leaning towards it. He meant to just kiss his cheek, but then the other turned his head to regard Kenny and inquire him about the purpose of the video, so Kyle's lips ended up pressing on Stan's.

"Finally!" Butters and Kenny practically squealed when they saw the action unfolding before their eyes.

"Holy shit, dude-" Stan whispered after a second when Kyle pulled back a second later, looking almost as confused as him. Though that confusion quickly turned into irritation as the redhead turned around to face Kenny with knitted eyebrows and gritted teeth, the bridge of his nose scrunching and his eyes glinting dangerously.

"Kenneth fucking McCormick!" He growled, completing his furious wild animal look. "Come here!"

Kenny's grin only widened as he passed the phone to his boyfriend and broke off in a run with Kyle chasing him and catching up quickly to jump on the blond's back, successfully pinning him down in the snow.

"Oh fiddlesticks-" Butters hastily pushed the phone in the hands of a still dumbfounded Stan before running up to try and help Kenny.

"Oh, you're so gonna die." Kyle chuckled darkly as he sat on Kenny's back, with one hand holding the hood of his jacket while his other hand went to the side to scoop up snow and shove it down the blond's jacket.

"Noooo!" Kenny shouted through hysterical fits of laugh as his arms tried to push his body up, though he failed because of the heaviness of Kyle's body. "He's got me! Buttercup! Stan! Guuuuys! Please, do something!" And he went limp for a few seconds, enough for Kyle to think that he's given up so he would stand up- and that's when Kenny turned around in one fluid movement to shove a handful of snow in his friend's face and smear it all over. "Ha! Gotcha!"

"Oh jeez- Kenny, stop that! You're both gonna get a cold!" Butters tried to shout over Kenny and Kyle's grunting and laughing as they peoceeded to wrestle and roll around in the snow. He had just given up when Stan joined him to observe the situation silently. "Oh, thank goodness. I was just trying to- Oh my, Stan, no!" Much to his disappointment, Stan had already made two snowballs in his hands which he soon threw, successfully hitting their targets - first Kyle's back, then Kenny's. Said boys stopped immediately with Kyle's palm pushing against Kenny's cheek, and Kenny's knee pressed against Kyle's chest in attempt of pushing him back.

A few seconds of silence passed, then all hell broke loose when Kenny shouted, "SNOWBALL FIGHT!" and all of them scrambled to make snowballs to throw at each other.

Needless to say, an hour and a half later the boys were all huddling close to each other on Kenny and Butters' huge bed, each of them sniffing and shaking violently while Jimmy brought them a few more blankets and cups of steaming hot cocoa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 4


	13. Fish sticks

"Thank you for putting up with our shit, Jimmy." Kyle said as he and Stan were leaving the room after Kenny and Butters had fallen asleep.

"Yeah, dude. You're a treasure." Stan added with a smile, then lifted his hand up to wipe his nose with his sleeve.

"D-don't mention it. I'm always h-happy to help." Jimmy replied with a bright smile. "I-I think you should also get some sleep, but it would be g-good if you treat yourselves to a warm cup of tea before you go."

Stan and Kyle nodded as Kyle muttered an 'okay' and 'thank you again' before they waved goodbye and headed to their room. When they got there, Stan unlocked the door, then proceeded to lock it when they got in while Kyle hurried to snuggle in his bed, doubling in on himself for extra warmth as he wrapped himself with the blanket like a cocoon. In contrast to that, Stan already looked perfectly fine and warmed up, but that was probably because he joined on the fun two minutes after Kenny and Kyle did.

"Dude... Butters was right, you're seriously gonna get a cold." Stan sighed as he approached his friend and pressed a palm on his forehead. "You know what, I think a nice hot bath would really help."

"No, thanks. I just laid down, I don't wanna get up." Kyle protested and brought his knees even closer to his chest. Though Stan wasn't so convinced and pulled the blanket off of him in one swift motion, then proceeded to catch his friend by the ankles and drag him across the bed. "No! Wait, wait, wait! I'll get up, I'll get up! Promise!"

"Then I'm gonna get your bath ready!" Stan cheerfully announced and went to do that before Kyle could say something else.

The redhead sighed and stood up, his arms pressed into his sides as he walked in the bathroom to join his friend.

"Dude, you don't have to-" He started, but said boy shushed him over the sound of the running water filling the bathtub. "Stan-" When he was silenced once again, he sighed, finally giving up. "Okay, you can go out now."

"Nope." Stan craned his neck and tilted his head back to regard Kyle who furrowed his brows in confusion. "I want to make sure that you do everything properly. And you always take care of me, so I think it's about time that I take care of you."

Kyle just pressed his lips in a tight line, the slightest blush creeping on his cheeks.

"Fine, but- don't look, okay? Don't even think about trying to peek!"

"Okay, okay. I promise I won't look." Stan looked forward again and stopped the water before the tub overflew. Then he closed his eyes and even covered them with his hand for double protection. Soon he heard the rustling of fabric and a few quiet 'fuck's and 'shit's before the redhead stepped into the water carefully, wincing at the sudden temperature change. He sank down to his chest, slowly letting out a shaky sigh of relief that Stan hasn't forgotten to add soap to create a nice foam which luckily covered most of Kyle's body.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Stan asked after a few seconds. Kyle answered with a nod, but then he realized that the other can't see it, so he muttered a 'yeah' and sank down further in the water. Stan moved his hand away, letting it fall to his side and looked at his friend. "Your hair is still wet from the snow." He pointed out while trying to stop his gaze from traveling further down from Kyle's shoulders... and he failed, so he quickly averted his eyes, choosing to look at the wall instead.

"I know... But I'm too tired to do anything about it at this point." Kyle mumbled, his head leaning back to rest on the wall behind him. He stared at the other boy for a while before reaching out to touch his cheek with the tip of his fingers. The latter jumped slightly at the contact, but his surprise was quickly replaced with confusion.

"Wha- what is it?" Stan turned to look at his friend again, his hand raising up slightly, but then hesitating and falling down again.

"Nothing. I just... I don't know, I just wanted to do this. Hope you don't mind." As he was talking, his palm opened up to rest on Stan's cheek, then slipped down to the right between his neck and shoulder.

"Dude..." The latter muttered, completely dazed and unmoving. "I, uh, it's fine. It feels good. I mean, uh-" He struggled to find the correct words as his gaze flicked between Kyle's eyes and his lips as if he was seeing him for the first time. There was that fondness again and the look of adoration written all over the redhead's face. Even though Stan actually saw it just now, he wondered whether that look has always been there or it was here just for that moment. He could as well melt into the floor just from this loving expression and the tender touches. "I, uh..." He tried to say something again, but gave up quickly. Instead he leaned forward slowly, but surely when he noticed that his friend did the same.

Just as their lips almost came in contact, Kyle moved his hand between them, steeling his nerves for his next words.

"Wait. I have to know something first. You said that we could talk about this today, so..."

Stan forgot how to talk for a second, then pulled back slightly, blinking a few times as he snapped out of it.

"Talk about what?"

"About that thing you said while we were... you know. I just want to know if it's true or not."

The raven-haired boy just stared back, his face heating up at an impossibly fast rate. After a few seconds he looked down in embarrassment and nodded.

"It's- it's true, but... It's okay if you-"

"Say it." Kyle was now sitting up so he could cup Stan's cheeks and lift his head up, blue meeting green as they maintained eye contact. "Please."

Stan gulped the lump in his throat, his arms slowly lifting to place his hands over Kyle's. He thought over his words for a moment or two, but it felt like a several hours passed before he could feel determined and sure enough of his feelings to say them out loud. He could feel his heart beating frantically like a wild animal locked in a cage as he squeezed the other's hands unconsciously.

"I love you." The words rolled off his tongue surprisingly easy, contrary to his expectations. "I'm... I'm completely sure that-" He was cut off by that familiar pair of lips and his stomach started tying in knots immediately. He soon gave in to the kiss, his hands finding their way on the sides of Kyle's neck as they both sighed contentedly, just enjoying the moment.

When they pulled back, it was Kyle's turn to blush like a nervous schoolgirl as he brought Stan's right hand to his chest, letting him feel the rapid heartbeat underneath.

"You feel that?" He whispered after a second. "It's beating for you. For more than 10 years now."

Stan nodded slowly, but even though he knew that his friend was serious, he couldn't resist from smiling like an idiot.

"Now who's the king of cheesiness?"

"Dude! I'm trying to be serious here! I love you too, but do you even-"

"Sorry, sorry." Stan leaned forward to press a few more kisses on Kyle's lips, then his cheek as he shifted in his place. "I know you're serious, but I couldn't stop myself."

Kyle sulked for exactly two seconds before rising to his knees to wrap Stan in a tight embrace, succesfully getting him wet too. The latter replied with the same and almost squeezed the life out of him before he also lifted himself up. 

"So are you gonna come in here already or you prefer sitting on the cold ground?" Kyle asked, his grip slowly loosening up as if he was scared of letting Stan go.

"But isn't it cramped up already-" Stan tried to protest, but when he looked up to his friend's face, all of his thoughts flew away and he stood up to get rid of his clothes, his fingers trembling slightly and fumbling around with the fabric eagerly. "You know what, nevermind."

The redhead brought a hand over his mouth to stifle his laugh at his friend's clumsiness.

"Dude! Stop it!" Now Stan looked offended and as soon as he stepped in the water and in front of Kyle, he sat down and crossed his arms over his chest, but soon gave up and started laughing too. "Seriously..."

Kyle waited for him patiently, then practically lunged himself forward to embrace the other boy again with a huge smile on his face, matching the one on Stan's.

"You have no fucking idea how long I waited for this." Kyle whispered and completely fell down to lay on top of the other boy, resting his head on his chest. 

"I know... I'm sorry." Stan muttered, his hands coming to rest on Kyle's back. "Dude... Did you know you have freckles even on your back? That's fucking amazing." He smiled, running fis fingers on the skin there. "Oh, and the marks have almost disappeared."

The redhead huffed a quiet chuckle and squirmed around when Stan's fingers grazed on his waist, then returned back up slowly.

"Dude, don't-" Kyle arched his back as a fit of giggles shook his shoulders. "Stop that!"

"Oh? You're ticklish there and I don't know about it?" Stan raised an eyebrow, an amused grin stretching his lips as he trailed his fingers down the same path, earning more of Kyle's laughter.

"Stan, no! Oh, why am I even-" Kyle trailed off as he squirmed around some more before catching his friend's wrists to bring them over his head and pin them to the wall. He tried to catch his breath as he looked at Stan still smiling up to him mischievously and shook his head. "Don't... do that again..."

Stan rolled his eyes and relaxed his arms, not even trying to fight back. Though his eyes betrayed him and traveled down Kyle's currently exposed body.

"Holy shit." He muttered slowly, almost too slow as he took in the breathtaking view of the redhead's body glistening as the light shone down and broke through the water drops. His gaze traveled everywhere, taking in every little muscle, every curve or angle and every other freckle on that beautiful pale skin. It was very different now comparing to the other day when the room was so dark that only outlines and little patches of skin could be seen. "Dude..."

"What?" Kyle followed the other boy's gaze and immediately sank back down in the water, retreating his hands quickly. "Stan, I told you not to stare!"

"I'm sorry, but... wow." Said boy lifted his head up to force himself to look at his friend's face. "Are you- Are you sure you're not some kind of a deity? Because I'm sure as fuck that I found my new religion."

"Wha-" Kyle's face flushed crimson red, his eyes becoming almost impossibly huge. "What did you just- Dude! I'm not that-"

Stan huffed out a laugh again and leaned forward to brush his lips against Kyle's.

"Relax. And stay still if possible." After saying that, the raven-haired boy made himself comfortable on Kyle's legs, the latter's knees pressing in his butt, but he didn't seem to mind it. He bent down to leave a trail of kisses on his friend's neck, then down to his collarbones and chest.

"Stan, please-" Kyle protested quietly and placed his hand on the back of the other's neck and up in his short hair. Though he couldn't say anything more in favor of gasping because of the hand sliding down the inside of his thigh.

A phone rang from somewhere and the boys needed a few seconds that it was Kyle's phone. And the ringtone was his mother's.

"For fuck's sake!" Kyle exclaimed and pushed Stan back in order to bend over the tub's edge to take his jeans and search for his phone. He finally found it at the fifth vibration and held it to his ear as he answered. "Hi, Mom, how are you?" He tried to sound as nice as possible despite the urge to just throw his phone away.

Stan bit the inside of his cheeks to refrain from laughing and bent down again to pepper a few more kisses on Kyle's neck, then pulled back a little to listen to his conversation with his mother.

"I'm fine, thank you. And how is your vacation going so far? You didn't call when you got there." Sheila's voice could be heard from the other side, sounding worried, but happy - probably because her son picked up the phone.

"Sorry, we were busy with unpacking and looking around and stuff." Kyle rested his head on the wall behind him while his free hand returned to Stan's neck. "It's really nice here."

"I'm glad that you like it there, but you missed Hanukkah, Bubbie."

Stan paused to look up to his friend with a wide smile upon hearing the nickname. The redhead rolled his eyes in response and clenched his jaw.

"I know, mom. I'm sorry, but it's our last year of high school. I wanted to celebrate with Stan."

"Oh, right!" Sheila almost shouted, suddenly sounding excited. "Speaking of him, how is it going?"

"What?" Stan mouthed and Kyle shrugged in response, but it was clear that he knew what was that about.

"Uhh, can we talk about this another time? I'm kinda in the middle of something-"

"...Kyle. What are you doing, young man?"

"Oh, ffffishsticks!" He blurted out, his palm coming down on his forehead hard at the realization that he couldn't come up with a better substite for 'fuck'. "I'm having a bath! Relax, I'm not having sex or something like that."

"Yeah. Sure." Sheila replied sceptically. "We'll have a talk when you come back."

"Okay, sure, fine. Bye now. Love you." With that Kyle hung up hastily and threw his phone on the pile of clothes on the floor.

"Holy shit, dude-" Stan burst out laughing, doubled over his friend. "Seriously? Fish sticks?"

"Shut up! I didn't know what else to say!" Kyle tried to look offended, but soon gave in to the urge to laugh along with Stan.

"Okay, okay, I trust you." Stan sighed as his smile faded after a few seconds. He raised up slightly and leaned forward next to Kyle's ear. He stood silent for a while before clearing his throat and saying very, very seriously. "Fish sticks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 11


	14. Pillow talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: I went overboard with the fluff

"Dude, stop moving around so much!" Stan complained and pulled the blanket to himself, leaving Kyle half-exposed.

They had already went out of the bath with Stan continuously teasing Kyle about the fish sticks until they both grew tired of it. They had decided to sleep together as it was still cold in the room despite the constant heating of the AC.

"I'm trying." Kyle sighed and turned around again, pressing himself on his friend and wrapping an arm around him. "I can't really sleep."

"Weren't you tired? You almost fell asleep in the bath." Stan's voice fell to a whisper and answered the embrace by snaking his arm over Kyle's waist and under his shirt. Kyle's skin was almost hot to the touch, so Stan smiled at that, glad that his friend has warmed up after their little adventure in the snow. "Do you want me to sing you to sleep?"

Kyle found himself actually answering positively, forgetting the genre of his music. But as soon as Stan took a deep breath, Kyle slapped his hands over his friend's mouth.

"No, no, no, no! I changed my mind, don't do it!" He stared intently at his friend's eyes, making sure that he wasn't really going to sing before pulling his hands back. 

Stan burst out laughing instead, the sound of it ringing across the room and reverberating through Kyle's body, figuratively and literally as his friend's shoulders shook almost violently.

"Dude, seriously- I won't torture you like that." Stan said after wiping a few tears from the edges of his eyes. "Maybe after a month for our next concert, but not now." He finished with a smile and slipped his hand back under the redhead's shirt.

"Okay..." Kyle nodded, the tension from his body quickly going away. "But when is it going to be again?"

"15th of January. I wanted to move the date for the 26th of May, but the manager said that-"

"Wait. Why exactly the 26th of May?"

"Well..." Stan trailed off, his cheeks tinted with a faint pink as he looked away. "I wanted to surprise you for your birthday."

"Oh." Kyle's eyes widened at the revelation before he connected the dots and smiled, letting a soft breath out of his nose as he scooted even closer to the other boy. "You can still surprise me with other things. There's still a lot of time until then."

Stan just nodded and replied with a smile of his own. His eyes fluttered closed as his forehead came to rest on Kyle's.

"You know, I still can't believe this is happening." He whispered, his nose brushing against his friend's. He received a low hum from the latter that urged him to continue. "Everything's happening so fast, but at the same time so slow. I mean, I needed ten years to realize the feelings that I feel- wait, that didn't come out right. What I meant was-"

"I know." Kyle cut him off, his voice barely above a whisper as his hand moved up to brush against Stan's cheek, then fall down to his neck. "I can't believe it either. It just feels surreal that you actually like me back, but- I still don't understand what that madness was with the whole friends-with-benefits thing. Are we really that dumb?"

"Yep." Stan replied, accompanied by a quiet chuckle. "I guess it was just my desire to get in your pants without any consequences, but I ended up realizing my feelings, so hey, it wasn't that bad of a decision."

Kyle blinked a few times, his brain trying to process what Stan just said.

"You wanted to- what? Dude... May I ask, since when did you want that?"

Stan moved back a little as he shifted to lift the blanket over their shoulders just to busy himself with something.

"Uh... Well... Do you remember this summer when we went to the seaside?"

"Yeah?"

"And when we were changing, you dropped something and bent down to take it..."

"...Yeah?"

"Yeah. And then when I asked you to help me with the sunscreen and I didn't want to turn over on my back because I didn't want you to see just how much this thing arou-"

"Holy shit." Kyle pushed himself on his elbow, his other hand placed firmly on his friend's chest. He stood silent for a few seconds before a small smile tugged at his lips. "For real? _I_ made you feel that way? Dude, I thought you were imagining Wendy or it was just a random flow of the blood."

Stan looked up to the redhead, smiling sheepishly. "No, that was because of you, but I didn't really want to say anything because I didn't want to cheat on Wendy..."

Kyle shook his head slightly and bent down to press a light kiss on his, he guessed, boyfriend's lips. Even though neither of them had the balls to ask about that yet. Well, it was okay for now. Probably it would be for the best if they slowed down a bit.

"You know, I may sound like a horrible person right now, but I'm glad that you broke up with her. It gave me and Bebe a chance after all."

"Wait- Bebe? What about her?" Stan furrowed his brows in confusion. The thought of Bebe liking him passed through his mind for a second, but he dismissed it as it would be ridiculous. They barely knew each other, so that left only one possible option. "She has a crush on Wendy?"

_Bullseye, Marsh, good game, well played. You caught on quickly this time._

"Uh- I'll stop talking now before I say something else that I'm not supposed to say." Kyle blurted out and flopped back down, turning his back to Stan for a second in order to take his phone from the nightstand. Then he turned around again and unlocked it, his thumb swiping across the screen a few times to open his messages.

"Wait. Woah. It all makes sense now."

"Huh?" The redhead looked up after he sent a short text to Bebe asking about how things going with Wendy. "What makes sense?"

"Well, you know, the other day when they did your hair and nails and stuff. They were probably helping you or..." Stan waved a hand around as he was explaining, but he stopped after a few seconds to turn on his back and stare blankly at the ceiling. "Wait, no. That doesn't make sense at all."

Kyle snorted at his friend's confusing theories and shook his head.

"That wasn't the case at all. Bebe just wanted to do my nails while we waited for you and Wendy to come back. At one point, she was even on the verge of screaming at me for neglecting my hands or something. But hey, I play basketball, I'm not a model, you know." He chuckled at the thought of Bebe's enthusiasm and laid back down with his head on Stan's chest. "And then Wendy came and Bebe said something about my hair, so they teamed up in trying to tame it. And it really hurt, but they assured me that Bebe went through this almost every day. Like, girls can be really tough sometimes. It almost scares me."

Stan laughed along with him and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, the pain was worth it in the end. They did an amazing job with making you even more attractive."

Kyle blinked up at him, a nervous smile adorning his features.

"Thank you, I guess. But really- you're flattering me way too much."

"Dude, that's because you _have_ to be flattered. You're just so..." Stan trailed off while he tried to come up with a suitable word. Maybe handsome? Gorgeous? Beautiful? No, he'd already used these words. "...perfect, immaculate, flawless." He thought of more definitions, but Kyle cut him off by tapping his fingers on his lips and shushing him.

"You're perfect for me too. Even though I don't really feel comfortable with expressing my feelings with words, I... I love every bit of you."

At that moment, it seemed that their heartbeats matched each other, even skipped a beat at the same time.

Stan could feel himself floating as he took Kyle's hand carefully, bringing it over his face to press a kiss on his palm after which he muttered, "I love you too, Kyle."

Their eyes locked with each other again as Stan wrapped his arms around Kyle's back while the latter pushed himself up slightly to come to eye level with his friend, their legs entangling in the process along with the fingers on their joined hands. The redhead bent down slowly to leave a kiss of his own on Stan's forehead, then at the tip of his nose and as he finally reached his lips, he grazed them slightly, releasing a shaky breath. Stan couldn't stop the wide smile that stretched his lips, he even giggled because of the redhead's ways of showing affection. He made a mental note that Kyle, even if he likes to talk and even make speeches, is quieter when it comes to situations like this and uses more actions instead of words.

Just then, Kyle received a notification on his phone. He grunted and pulled back from Stan to reach for his phone and excuse himself for not turning the sounds down. And Stan answered just by embracing the redhead and pulling him close again.

"What is it?" Stan asked after a few seconds of examining Kyle's neutral expression which soon changed into a surprised one.

"Holy shit. I got a fuckload of likes and comments on that picture you took that night when we were drunk. 3742 likes in two days... That's insane."

"What pict-... Ooh, that one? That's nice! Now you're famous too!" Stan grinned, but when Kyle shook his head, he sighed and rubbed his friend's back. "Come on, it's not that bad. And I was thinking of taking another photo now, but... I can upload it in my profile."

"Why do you even feel the need to upload photos on Instagram? That's your- _our_ personal lives." Kyle raised an eyebrow and put his phone aside.

"Well yeah, but the fans are interested in this. Also, I want to show off with the person who's by my side." Stan grinned again to which Kyle replied with an eye-roll.

"Okay, then what kind of photo do you want to take now?"

"Well... You know, where couples take photos of their hands like..." Stan moved his hand to catch Kyle's and entangled their fingers. "...this."

"That's... really cliché." Kyle deadpanned and rolled back on his previous place next to Stan, but didn't let go of his hand.

"I know, okay? I'm sick of clichés too, but most people seem to like those. And it's an excuse to hold your hand more often."

Kyle huffed out a chuckle, bringing his free hand over his mouth.

"Dude... You're aware of the fact that you can do that as much as you want even if we don't take photos, right?"

"I... Of course I know! What do you think I am? A five-year-old?" But Stan still pouted, his actions not helping his words in the slightest bit.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever you say." Kyle muttered and turned to lay on his side with his forehead pressed on Stan's shoulder.

Meanwhile, Stan took his phone and lifted their joined hands to take a photo. After uploading it, he looked over to Kyle who was already fast asleep, but still gripping his hand. Stan smiled and decided to capture this moment too... five times, to be precise. After the number of pictures of Kyle's sleeping face satisfied him, he left his phone back on the nightstand as quiet as possible, then adjusted the blanket around the redhead's shoulders. Finally he went to sleep too after whispering a quiet 'good night'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 6


	15. Fooling around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: even more fluff, oops

"Stan? Where did you g- oh."

That were Kyle's first words after he woke up to see Stan sitting on a chair, his legs propped up on the table in front of him, and holding a pencil and a small notebook in his hands. He looked really concentrated, but the redhead couldn't fight back the urge to get up and approach him from behind to take a peek at the notebook. Well, not before taking his phone and putting it in his pocket. "What are you writing?"

Kyle caught only a glimpse of the first words - 'when you' before Stan hastily covered the sheet he was writing on, then slammed the notebook face-down on the table, dropping the pencil on the floor in the process.

"N-Nothing!" Stan blurted out and turned his head to look at Kyle who blinked down at him, his brows quirked in confusion. "How much did you see?"

"Uh, not much? Just the first two words. By the way, your writing still doesn't look good."

"Dude... Fuck you." Stan deadpanned, receiving a quiet chuckle in response and a kiss on his forehead.

"Love you too." Kyle grinned when he pulled back and looked around, his gaze stopping at a cup on the far end of the table. "Oh, is that coffee?"

"Tea. It's for you, so you can go to drink it over there." Stan nodded towards the chair on the other side of the table, then lowered his legs to the ground and took the notebook and pencil again. "Sorry, but I need to write now or my head's gonna explode. I promise I'll give you attention after that."

"Okay, I got you. And sorry for startling you." Kyle offered a sympathetic smile and did as Stan instructed him. The latter responded to the smile with his own and went back to his writing with the notebook on his knees.

After a few minutes of silence, Stan extended his free hand and rested it on the table with his palm turned upwards. Kyle looked at it, then up to Stan's face, then back down on his hand. He huffed a chuckle upon realizing what his friend wanted and caught his hand before lifting his gaze again to examine Stan's expressions. And there was his tongue sticking out again, his eyebrows that furrowed, then raised when he probably came with something better than the last thing that he wrote, and the slight pull of his lips to the side...

Of course, Kyle hurried to take his phone out and snap a quick photo. Then he left his phone aside inconspicuously and proceeded to drink his tea.

"Okay, I think that's enough." Stan announced after a few more minutes and looked up with a satisfied grin. Though his face contorted in confusion when he saw Kyle smiling dumbly at him. "What is it? Do I have a bedhead?"

"No, you just looked... adorable." Kyle explained simply and averted his gaze, bringing the cup to his lips to drink the remaining tea. "And you literally can't have a bedhead with hair that short."

"I uh..." Stan laughed nervously and looked down when he felt his cheeks burning. "Thanks, I guess. But... Aren't you mad that I didn't pay attention to you? I mean, Wendy used to-"

"Nope." Kyle cut him off quickly and gave a comforfing squeeze to his hand. "It's always nice seeing you work on something that you love. Even if you don't write songs around me often."

"Oh. That's... I never thought of it that way..." Stan shifted in his seat, then left the closed notebook and the pencil on the table, stood up and bent over to give the redhead a quick peck on his cheek. "Thank you for being so patient with me."

"You don't have to thank me." Kyle smiled and also stood up, reluctantly letting go of his friend's hand. "Now... Do you want to go out?"

"Ye- Dude! Are you repeating my words from the other day?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows?"

Stan rolled his eyes and went to get a fresh change of clothes.

"So should I consider it as a date or...?"

Kyle followed his example and hummed to himself before nodding.

"Yep. If you like it that way. Though I'll be training with Bebe after a few hours... but you can still come along if you wanna see me sweating like a pig."

"I'll definitely come then!" Stan grinned and turned on his heels when Kyle started to undress and this time he remembered to not peek.

——————————

"Holy shiii- Look over there!" Stan half-whispered half-yelled as he pulled on Kyle's sleeve for probably the tenth time since they went out. He used his free hand to point at a nearby tree where two snow white rabbits walked around, then hid behind the tree. "Aren't they cute?"

"Yeah..." Kyle answered with a chuckle and followed Stan down the path when he started walking again. "But you're still cuter."

"What?" Stan laughed and shook his head as he turned to face the redhead, proceeding to walk backwards with his hands in his pockets. "Dude, bunnies are the cutest creatures _ever_! Well, along with dogs... and cats... and horses... and dolphins... and- Anyway, I mean- You get what I mean."

Kyle rolled his eyes and flicked his gaze between Stan's legs and the path beneath them.

"Whatever you say, but... You're gonna fall if you keep walking like this."

"I won't! Don't worry." Stan assured and reached out to take Kyle's hand before turning on his heel to walk normally. He even swung their hands back and forth which made Kyle snort and bring his free hand to his lips to hide the wide smile growing on his face. Stan took a glance at him and grinned. "There's the smile that I wanted to see!"

"It's hard not to smile when you behave like that." Kyle muttered and looked around, suddenly becoming aware of the fact that someone could see them holding hands. There were a few people walking around, but thankfully, they didn't seem to notice them, or were just enjoying themselves.

"What? I'm just happy." Stan regarded Kyle again and leaned closer to him, adding jokingly, "Even if this isn't the best date that I have ever been to."

"I'm trying, okay?" Kyle retorted, his brows knitting, but the smile remained on his face. "If you haven't noticed, I'm doing this all for you. Coming to this place, I mean."

"Oh." Stan replied dumbly, his eyes shooting wide open as he just now realized Kyle's motives for organizing this whole vacation thing. He huffed out a nervous laugh and averted his gaze. "God, I'm stupid..."

"You're not _that_ stupid..." Kyle assured with a half-smile as he lifted his free hand to ruffle Stan's hair.p

Stan stopped in his tracks while Kyle took two steps forward. However he was stopped and pulled back to Stan who hugged him tightly, almost squeezing the life out of him.

"What? What's gotten into you now?" Kyle asked, accompanied by a quiet chuckle as his gaze followed Stan's movements.

"I just wanted to thank you." Stan muttered after a second, his voice coming muffled because of his face being pressed in the other's shoulder.

"You don't have to thank me, but- Stan! We're going to-" Kyle tried to keep his balance when Stan's body pressed down on him further, but failed miserably and they both fell with a soft thud from Kyle's back coming in contact with the ground0. "...fall."

"Duude..." Stan's shoulders shook with laughter as he tried to get up, but gave up quickly and flopped back down with his head on Kyle's chest. "That was hilarious!"

"Yeah, you say that because it's not your ass that's hurting." Kyle rolled his eyes, but still laughed along with his friend.

"Sorry, sorry." Stan pushed up and caught Kyle's hands to pull him up and towards him, probably still not satisfied with the amount of fooling around, so he leaned forward and pressed a light kiss on Kyle's lips. "But you totally fell for me. It's useless to deny it."

"Stan, seriously-" Kyle began, but he was cut off by another kiss, "People are stari-" and another one, "Dude..." he finally gave in to the last one, but pulled back after a second. "I know that you're excited, but it's time to meet up with Bebe. You'll get more kisses later."

Stan just nodded and moved to stand next to Kyle again when the latter caught his hand, lacing their fingers and navigating them in his jacket's pocket with the excuse that Stan's hand was cold. They went to the court where Bebe was already practicing her throwing, but missed every second or third throw. Kyle let go of Stan's hand when they walked around the fence and entered the court.

"Your hands are in the wrong position." Kyle called out. Bebe jumped slightly and missed again. She groaned and turned to look at Kyle and Stan who sat down on one of the benches.

"Well, good afternoon to you too. And hello, Stan!" Bebe greeted with a wide smile and threw the ball to Kyle who caught it with ease and walked closer to Bebe to show her the right way aim to the hoop and shoot.

Stan watched them for a while, amazed at Kyle's patience when teaching and Bebe's fast improvement. Though his attention was stolen completely by Kyle when he took off his jacket and approached Stan, leaving the jacket on his shoulders.

"What, why-"

"Extra warmth is never enough. Also I can't move freely with that jacket." Kyle looked at Bebe over his shoulder. She was still practicing, letting out a groan as a battle cry with each of her throws. The redhead used that opportunity to bend down and press his lips against Stan's for a second before pulling away and going over to Bebe again. "Repeat that a few times and you can rest."

Bebe nodded and walked to the 2 point line. She narrowed her eyes at the hoop, bent her legs at the knees, raised her hands in the proper position and-

"Bebe, you forgot your water!" Wendy shouted from the other end of the court just when Bebe threw the ball. Luck was on her side and she scored, but she couldn't see as she turned to look at Wendy.

"Thanks." Bebe smiled and took the bottle that Wendy presented her when she came closer. Then she looked at Kyle who had retreated back next to Stan. Her face lighted up immediately. "Hey, now that there's four of us... Why don't we try playing one game? Two versus two."

Wendy raised a brow, the corner of her lips quirking slightly.

"But I haven't played in almost seven ye-"

"Sounds great!" Kyle interrupted and stood up with Stan following suit. The latter shrugged his jacket along with the one that Kyle gave him and left them on the bench. Then he turned to regard the girls. 

"Then I guess it's you two versus me and Ky-"

"This isn't fair at all!" Kyle and Wendy retorted at the same time, then turned to stare at each other. Wendy just waved a hand dismissively after their mini staring contest of confusion and cleared her throat.

"Anyway, I'm teaming up with Kyle so that we're even." Wendy announced and followed Kyle and Stan's example with taking her jacket off. Though unlike the boys she was prepared with a sweatshirt underneath, so Kyle slapped himself mentally for forgetting to take such an essential clothing item.

"We're totally gonna win then! Right?" Bebe grinned up to Stan who let out a forced laugh when he saw Kyle smirking.

"Y-yeah... Sure." Stan cleared his throat, took a deep breath and picked the ball up. "Then let's get it started!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 4


	16. *Not* a double date

The game went well... for Kyle and Wendy. So Bebe and Stan demanded a rematch, after which there was a second one, then a third one... 

Bebe and Stan tried their best at defeating them, with Stan taking on the defense while Bebe tried to get past Wendy and score, using different techniques for distraction that she had seen on TV and in live games, but it was pretty hard with Wendy's quick reactions. As for Stan and Kyle, every time that Kyle stepped in Stan and Bebe's side of the court, Stan tried to block him, muttering under his breath that everything was easier when they were in fourth grade. And he was right - back then Kyle's arms weren't that long and Stan could stop him from scoring, but now he didn't stand a chance.

Obviously, it was a defeat for Stan and Bebe. Though in the end, they bumped fists as their silent agreement of 'at least we tried' while Kyle and Wendy started to talk about something, their conversation quickly transforming from 'why don't you try out in the girls' basketball team?' to talking about different universities.

"Okay, what the hell is happening?" Stan whispered and leaned closer to Bebe as he nodded towards Kyle and Wendy.

"I don't know, probably bonding time? In that case, it won' t be over soon." Bebe whispered back and shrugged, then caught Stan by the elbow and pulled him aside, her lips stretching in a teasing smil. "Anyway, what's up with you and Kyle? Is there anything _interesting_?"

"Uh, what do you mean by interesting?" Stan's lips quirked up in a nervous smile and looked around. "Like, today we saw some animals? And yesterday we had a snowball fight with Kenny and Butters."

Bebe rolled her eyes and nudged Stan's side with her elbow as she lowered her voice to a whisper again.

"What I mean is, did you get together?"

Stan froze and blinked down at Bebe, opening his mouth to say something, but closing it quickly before he glanced over at Kyle.

"Wait. Did Kyle tell you?"

"Hm, not really...? He kinda avoided the subject." Bebe scratched her cheek and smiled again, giving a friendly bump with her fist on Stan's shoulder. "But, honestly, you guys are super cute together. So if you like him, don't hesitate to ask him out!"

Stan pressed his lips in a tight line and he looked at Kyle again. He was laughing with Wendy about something and Stan couldn't help, but smile too, his expression softening.

"Yeah, I'll... I'll think about it." Stan muttered and looked away quickly to regard Bebe again. "So, if we're talking about relationships... Why don't you ask Wendy out?"

"Well..." Bebe laughed nervously and shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "You know how she is. She needs time, so... yeah."

"Right." Stan sighed as he and Bebe turned to look at Kyle and Wendy, just staring dreamily at them until they decided to stop talking and focus on their hypnotized friends.

"Uh..." Kyle quirked a brow when he saw his friend looking like he was on cloud nine, and Bebe looking like she would melt any second now. "I think they broke."

"Nah, it's okay. They do it quite often." Wendy assured and approached Bebe, snapping her fingers in front of the blonde's face. "Time to wake up."

Bebe snapped out of her daze and muttered an apology with a nervous chuckle. Meanwhile Stan averted his gaze as fast as possible, a deep blush creeping on his cheeks as if he had just been caught by his mom while watching porn.

"Dude... Are you okay?" Kyle asked quietly when he stepped closer to Stan and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Stan mumbled, still dazed, and looked around. Though he soon looked up at Kyle as his face contorted in confusion. "...Wait. What did you ask again?"

Kyle just shook his head and took their jackets. He gave Stan his, then shrugged on his own. Stan followed suit and zipped his jacket... then almost lost his shit when Kyle caught his hand casually even though Wendy and Bebe were right next to them, but didn't seem to notice them, given that they were talking about something 

"So what do you say?" Wendy looked up to Stan and raised her eyebrows. "Are you guys coming or not?"

"Huh? Come where?" Stan blinked rapidly after he stopped spacing out again. He took an inconspicuous step closer to Kyle in order to hide their hands.

"To dinner!" Bebe chirped and batted her eyelashes. "Come on, it will be fun!"

Stan looked up to meet Kyle's eyes looking back at him.

"I'm going if you're going." Kyle muttered to answer Stan's wordless question.

"Well... Then we'll come." Stan regarded Wendy again before adding, "If it's not bothering you."

Wendy nodded with a smile in response and picked up the ball. Then she and the already giddy Bebe turned to walk out of the court with Stan and Kyle trailing behind them.

"Kyle?" Stan broke the silence after a minute while he watched the girls talk and laugh with each other. Kyle replied with a simple 'hm?' and Stan fiddled with their still joined hands. "Weren't you uncomfortable with people seeing us like this?"

"Yeah, but they're distracted now, so it's fine." Kyle explained with a smile, lowering his voice so as to not be heard by Wendy and Bebe. Though they were pretty loud, so it was safe enough.

"Well, then..." Stan trailed off and tapped his lips. He turned his head to look at Kyle expectantly, his confidence coming back so suddenly that Kyle had to blink rapidly as if to wake up from a daydream. "You promised something."

Kyle met Stan's eyes and thought about it for a moment. Wendy and Bebe were still giggling and they were already far away, so Kyle decided, fuck it, and stopped to lean forward and place his free hand on the back of Stan's neck as he pressed their lips together.

Though this time it was somehow... more exciting than their other kisses. Probably because of the thrill of them being outside with a dangerously high possibility of being seen by someone. Or the fact that Stan let out a low hum of satisfaction that made Kyle forget where they are.

"Guys, it's getting dark already! Hurry up!" Bebe shouted, and Stan and Kyle could swear they felt how their moment broke in a million pieces as they got back to reality again. They pulled back as fast as possible and let go of each other's hands.

"We're coming!" Kyle called back before he lowered his head in an attempt to hide his burning face. Stan was pretty much the same, with the exception that Kyle pointed out, "Dude, if I didn't know you better, I would be creeped out by such a smile."

"Dude!" Stan repeated, the word coming out shaky as he laughed and punched Kyle's arm playfully.

"Oof- okay, I'm sorry! I like your smile." Kyle hastily corrected himself and raised his hands in defeat when Stan shot him a smug grin.

"That's better."

By the time that the four of them got to the restaurant of the residence -after passing through the lobby to return the basketball-, it was already dark outside, the only light coming from the lamps and reflecting in the snow to make the night brighter. Bebe found herself staring at that beautiful view, but Wendy pulled her forward, assuring Bebe that she could see the same thing from their table. Bebe complied quickly because of the warm hand that was currently squeezing hers.

In the meantime Stan and Kyle caught up with them when Bebe beckoned them to get closer and sat down around one of the tables. Of course, Bebe hurried to sit next to Wendy, so Kyle and Stan took the seats opposite of them. After they ordered, they stood silent for a while before Bebe smiled and opened her mouth.

"You know, this seems like a double date to me."

"What? No, that's not what I had in mind." Wendy protested, but the rosy blush that was creeping on her cheeks said otherwise. "But... If you think of it that way..." She looked up to Stan, then brought her attention to Kyle. "Stan never wanted to go on such things with me, so... it seems you're a better influence on him."

Bebe confirmed the statement with a nod while Kyle raised a brow sceptically. Though he couldn't fight the small smile that creeped its way on his lips. Somehow it was really satisfying how Stan's ex-girlfriend admitted that Kyle was indeed better than her. Of course, Kyle knew that he was being narcissistic and letting his ego getting the better of him. But it felt nice, his ten years worth of efforts of trying to be the best person for Stan to have, to be confirmed as successful.

"Do you really think so?"

"Sure. I'm happy for you two." Wendy replied and gave a smile of her own to affirm her statement. "Especially after I realized that I wasn't that affected by the break-up."

"Um..." Stan began and cleared his throat as he regarded Wendy. "May I ask - how the fuck do _you_ know what's been happening to consider that we're..." He nodded to Kyle in an attempt of describing their relationship with gestures instead of with normal words. "Something. You know..."

"Oh come on, it's obvious." Wendy propped her elbows on the table with one wrist under her chin. "In fact, it's been obvious for at least a year, even if you didn't realize it."

Stan opened and closed his mouth, his head tilting slightly to the side like a confused dog. So what if he used to stare at his best friend and talk about him all the time? That didn't mean that he liked him ever since then. Or did it? He couldn't really know the exact day, month or year when his feelings towards Kyle started transforming from platonic friendship into something romantic. He just knew that he realized it a few days ago and that's what mattered.

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

Wendy raised a brow, the corner of her lips quirking up slightly in a mocking fashion.

"Why do you think that I broke up with you so often?" 

"But- you didn't tell me your reasons!" Stan protested and furrowed his brows. His left hand slid down under the table and, as if on instinct, he found Kyle's hand to take it into his for support.

Wendy sighed and shook her head.

"That's one of the reasons - not understanding me after 8 years."

"Yeah, you boys can be really slow sometimes." Bebe said jokingly, but when Kyle replied with an offended 'hey!', she added, "Except Kyle, of course."

"Dude..." Stan let go of Kyle's hand in favor of crossing his arms in a defensive manner as his gaze moved between Wendy and Bebe. "In my defense, you girls are really confusing. Especially Wendy."

"Whaaat?" Bebe interfered before Wendy could say something and leaned forward. "Then why can I understand her from less than a half sentence? She's not that confusing."

"Well, it's the same with Kyle! But when it comes to understanding Wendy, it's hard." Stan retorted and from that point emerged an argument between him and Bebe about whether Wendy was the better person or Kyle.

Stan and Bebe didn't even notice when the waitress brought them their food. Contrary to that, Wendy and Kyle didn't bother interrupting them and started eating.

"Okay, maybe the double "date" was a bad idea after all." Kyle muttered after a while, but couldn't stop himself from smiling when Stan started to ramble on how much he liked Kyle’s hair while Bebe made arguments that Wendy's hair was softer. Wendy nodded in response to Kyle and shook her head. 

Though the argument stopped when Bebe said that Wendy was a good dancer, so Stan turned to face Kyle with a serious expression.

"Can you dance? I've seen you dance only a few times in elementary school, so..."

"Uh..." Kyle's lips stretched in a nervous smile and he looked around, as if searching for a way to escape from that quiestion. "That's a... Uh, I can't really... Y'know, I don't..." He lowered his head in embarrassment as he mumbled something about his mother teaching him how to do that one slow dance that he forgot the name of. He also mentioned that he was practically forced to learn the dance because one of his mother's friends had a wedding.

"Oh, that's nice." Wendy remarked with a smile. 

"Really?" Stan exclaimed, his brows shooting up immediately. "Dude, why don't I know about this?"

"Because it's... not really something that I'm proud of." Kyle looked down at his plate again and played around with his fork. 

"But why though? That's a great skill to have, especially with the prom that's almost around the corner." Bebe grinned and leaned back in her seat, waving her hands around as she spoke. "And speaking of prom - it's going to be totally amazing. I can't wait wait to show off to the other girls with that one dress that I found- oh but I still haven't found matching shoes! And my hair! Wendy, you'll help me with that, right?"

Bebe continued with her ramble and turned to Wendy to ask her random questions from time to time while the latter replied with equally enthusiastic answers.

In the meantime, Stan fell deep in thought and chewed on his food absentmindedly. Kyle did the same, until they turned to look at each other.

"Do you think if jeans will be violating the dress code?" Kyle asked, his face lit up with hope when Stan smiled. Though he didn't receive the answer he needed. Instead, Stan nudged his side and let out a quiet laugh.

"Dude, that's what I was meaning to ask!" 

"Dude..." Kyle sighed and shook his head. "Anyway, even if they aren't acceptable, I'll still wear jeans."

"Ooh, nice! We have a rebel here." Stan teased and raised his eyebrows as he grinned from ear to ear. "I'll join your cause then. You know, we could be one of those couples with matching outfits."

"You know what, I change my mind." Kyle looked away, letting out a dramatic exaggerated sigh. "I thought about asking you out, but it won't be happening if you keep on teasing me."

"Wha- You would, for real? Wait, wait, wait! I'm sorry!" Stan threw his arms around the "sulking" redhead and pulled him close.

"Uh, Stan. Please. I'm really not mad." Kyle patted his friend's head and looked over to Wendy and Bebe who were still talking, though Bebe took a quick glance at the boys and gave a thumbs-up to Kyle. The latter replied with an eye-roll and turned his attention back to Stan. "Seriously, not that I don't like it, but you can let go now."

Stan looked up and smiled slightly, looking relieved that Kyle wasn't angry with him, even though their exchange was just a play-pretend. 

"But you'll go to prom with me, right?"

"Yeah, sure- Wait! Dude, _I_ wanted to ask _you_!" Kyle immediately snapped, his brows furrowing in frustration when his plan was demolished effortlessly in just two seconds. 

"Well, too late." Stan pulled away with a smirk and pulled his plate of food closer to him. "Early bird gets the worm, you know."

"That... That wasn't fair at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 6


	17. Just the two of them(Epilogue pt.1)

The next morning, Stan remained in bed after he woke up so as to not disturb the sleeping Kyle beside him. And he couldn't move much too because his left arm was trapped under Kyle's neck. But still, Stan tried to slide his arm upwards in order to at least give a better angle of his friend's head.

The activities from last night after the basketball and dinner had really exhausted them, so they didn't stay up long enough to get dressed. That left a perfect opportunity for Stan to wrap his free arm halfway around Kyle's torso, admiring the smoothness of his skin and the way his ribs moved under Stan's hand with every breath he took. 

Two days after they confessed to each other, Stan still thought he was in some kind of a lucid dream. That was one of the reasons why he was so touchy-feely and on the verge of being annoyingly clingy. He just wanted to make the most of his time with Kyle in case everything turns out to be a dream.

But that meant that he had dreams within that dream or it was a dream within a dream within another dream within a dream-

_Wait, what? What the fuck, brain. Stop fucking with me._

Two minutes or so later, a ray of hope shone upon Stan when Kyle moved away from his arm and instead scooted closer to his shoulder. Stan sighed in relief, but winced when he moved his left -already asleep- arm to bend it at the elbow in order to let it rest from being extended for more than 6 hours.

"Are you awake?" Kyle mumbled after a second, but didn't move to look up at Stan who muttered an 'uh-huh' in response and cupped Kyle's jaw and cheek to turn his face towards his and kiss him for good morning. The redhead raised his eyebrows and hummed in response, though his eyes remained half-lidded from the drowsiness. "Good morning then. Now let's get back to sleep."

Stan let out a breathy chuckle when Kyle flopped back down to his previous position and closed his eyes again.

Nevermind that it would be cruel, it seemed like a good idea to mess up with him like he did yesterday when Stan was writing down ideas for that new song. So Stan turned on his left side and slid down to come face-to-face with Kyle and give him a few pecks on his cheek.

"Stan, please-" Kyle turned his head to the side and covered Stan's face with his hand to try and push him back even though he didn't really have enough strength, given that he just woke up. In addition to that, the worn-out voice that he sported right now wasn't really helping him be convincing. "When was the last time you shaved? You're like a cactus."

Stan snorted and pulled back to take a better look at the redhead.

"So what? You don't like cacti?"

"I like them, but I don't like touching them."

Stan grinned and bent down to rub his cheek against Kyle's despite his protests and groans.

"Aw, don't be like that. Just the other night you said that you love every bit of me."

"I do, but-" Kyle began, but he broke in a fit of giggles when Stan climbed over him and trailed a path of kisses from his cheek to his ear and neck. "That tickles! Stop!" Stan obviously dismissed him and his lips proceeded on their journey down to Kyle's chest. "No, wait, I take it back. Don't stop."

"What? Didn't you say that you didn't like it?" Stan stopped in his tracks to regard Kyle. The latter averted his gaze immediately after feeling like he could get lost in those blue eyes.

"I mean, it's not that bad, it's just... foreign, you know."

Nevermind the fact that Kyle had imagined how it would feel. Well, guess that's answered now. It made his skin tingly, but not the tickling way - it was more like static electricity.

It was fucking magical. Not that he would admit it to Stan. Not directly at least. So Kyle just shifted a little to adjust his pillow which was, not surprisingly, next to him instead of under his head. And he suspected what was used for his pillow until now, seeing that Stan leaned more on his right side, not the left like usual.

"So you like it." Stan concluded with a grin and laid back down to rest his chin on Kyle's chest to test if his deduction was right. And judging by the slight shuddering of Kyle's body, it was.

Instead of responding, Kyle beckoned him to get closer, then cupped his cheeks and kissed him softly.

"You may be a cactus, but you're _my_ cactus." Kyle muttered after he pulled back and offered a smile which Stan easily replicated.

"But still, I'm gonna go and take care of it before your skin gets irritated."

Kyle nodded and sat up, pulling the blanket to wrap himself with it when Stan stood up and gathered his underwear to put it on.

"Do you need help?"

"Psh, of course not. It's not my first time." Stan waved his hand dismissively and headed to the bathroom. He appeared confident in his skills, but they both knew how many times Stan had showed up to school with tiny cuts all over his cheeks and throat, but he always used the excuse of 'I was rushing' instead of 'I can't shave properly to save my life'.

Kyle just shrugged and bent over the edge of the bed to retrieve his clothes and put them on while Stan was out of sight. Though he reappeared after a few minutes with a sheepish smile and a tightly pressed palm to his right cheek.

That was all Kyle needed to see to get him to stand up and follow Stan to the bathroom. The latter leaned on the edge of the sink when they got there and handed the shaving foam and razor to Kyle.

"Sorry that I'm making you do this for me, but... you know I hate shaving." Stan mumbled after a while, just as his friend placed a hand under his chin to hold him in place after finishing with the preparations.

"I know." Kyle replied, but contrary to Stan's expectations, he smiled and planted a quick kiss to the tip of Stan's nose. "And you know I love helping you in any way that I can, so you don't have to be sorry."

"Dude... You're an angel. Seriously." Stan whispered and was about to smile too, but managed to stop himself when Kyle got to work, starting from his right cheek. So, instead of talking, Stan watched his friend's focused expression and the careful, surgically-precise movements of his hands.

It didn't take long before Kyle pulled back to let Stan wash his face. And after he did that, the latter received a peck on his cheek to which he replied with a chuckle before turning around.

"Thanks, dude." Stan said and caught Kyle's hands, staring at his eyes as he turned serious all of a sudden. "How can I repay you?"

Kyle blinked at him, confused at first before his face contorted with amusement at Stan's determination.

"You don't have to repay me. The only thing I want from you is to continue being _you_. And get back in bed so we can sleep all day."

Stan blinked up at him bedore huffing out a hearty laugh. He nodded and followed Kyle back to his bed. Though before they could sit or directly lay down, Kyle stopped and turned around to face the other boy.

"So, uh..." Kyle began and cleared his throat before proceeding, his expression turning serious which startled Stan for a second. Kyle shifted his weight from one leg to the other and caught Stan's hands for mental support. Damned be his plan to move things forward slowly. "I haven't asked you officially yet, so... Do you want to be my boyfriend? I mean, it's okay if you don't want anything officia-" He was abruptly stopped by Stan who lunged forward to kiss him with so much force that they fell on the bed with a thump. Not that Kyle didn't like it - on the contrary, he gladly returned the kiss and gave a slight squeeze to Stan's hands when the latter smiled against his lips.

"Of course I want to." Stan replied after pulling back, almost too giddy for such a simple proposal. He just couldn't help, but feel as if it was a marriage proposal, even though it was way too early for that. "And actually I wanted to ask you that, but I guess we're even now."

Kyle laughed in response and gave a quick peck to Stan's cheek before releasing his right hand in favor of placing his own on his, now boyfriend's, back.

"I'm glad we're clear with this now."

"But... There's still one more important question that needs to be answered." Stan muttered and pushed himself up, leaning on his elbow for the extra support that just his knees couldn't grant him.

"What's that?"

"Are you gonna take my last name when we get married? You know, not that I'm implying anything, I'm just asking hypothetically, in case it happens."

Kyle froze, his brows furrowing, face contorting in confusion, then embarrassment at the mere thought of his dreams coming true one day. Though he managed to regain his composure quickly and stand his ground.

"Why not the other way around?"

"What? Dude, Stan Broflovski doesn't sound good at all. Kyle Marsh is better. It has a ring to it."

"Nope. Stan Broflovski sounds better."

"Uh, no...? Kyle Marsh is way better."

"Broflovski.“

"Marsh!"

"Broflovski!"

"Marsh!"

"Okay, okay." Kyle sighed, backing down, but still not giving up. "There's plenty of time to think about this, so... let's leave it at Broflovski for now."

"Dude! We're not leaving it at- You know what? Let's call Kenny to ask for his opinion."

Stan got up to sit on Kyle's thighs and reached for his phone, but Kyle stopped him in time by grabbing both of his wrists.

"Isn't it a little too early to let him in on the situation right now? I mean, you know how he got when he found out that we had sex." Kyle almost whispered the last word, feeling embarrassed all of a sudden as if it was a big deal even though it really wasn't, considering that it already happened two times.

"Oh... Right. I forgot about that." Stan admitted with a sigh and his shoulders slumped. "So... I think we could just stick to our own last names. I mean, it's not that big of a deal for us to fight over. Right?"

Kyle nodded, smiling at Stan's wisely chosen words. He sat up and left a light kiss to the corner of Stan's lips before embracing him and tilting his body to the side until they both laid back down.

They stood like that for a while before Kyle took Stan's hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. It took Stan a moment to remember what the meaning of this kind of kiss was. Various websites had told him that it meant 'I adore you'. Stan never really believed such things, but the look in Kyle’s eyes successfully transformed him from a sceptic into a believe.

He smiled at that thought and returned the gesture before muttering, "We're sappy as fuck."

"I know. And I love it." Kyle answered, reciprocating Stan's smile before closing his eyes. This time he was the one who initiated the cuddling as his legs wrapped around Stan's.

It made Stan feel at ease that he wasn't the only one with a need to touch, or to be touched by the person he loved.

And that was all that mattered now. Just the two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why am i singing "do you want to be my boyfriend" with the melody of "do you want to build a snowman".....
> 
> 'dude' counter: 3


	18. The concert(Epilogue pt.2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, firstly I gotta say that I really tried hard with writing that semblance of a song, but it still sucks, so bear with me for a bit ^^"

One month passed like a whirlwind for Stan and Kyle. As soon as they'd returned from their vacation, they decided to just be open about their relationship in front of their parents. Luckily, Sheila and Gerald accepted it nicely, and they even gave Kyle 100 dollars. Ike decided it would be a good moment to come out of the closet as bi, but the only thing he received was a pat on the shoulder. Well, of course, Kyle gave him half of his newly-attained money out of solidarity. As for Stan's parents, Sharon also took the news well. Randy wasn't high for the first time in forever after the legalization of weed, so he was the only one being grumpy because his son told him that aside from being with Kyle, he wanted to continue pursuing his music career instead of staying at the farm to take care of it and the business.

Just like that came the 15th of January, the day of the concert that Stan talked about almost every day. For some reason that Kyle still didn't know, Stan was extremely excited. Normally he, Kenny, Butters and Jimmy prepared as if they were just attending a small school dance or something. And they also let Kyle in on their practices, but lately they were being secretive, didn't invite Kyle to listen to them, and avoided texting in the group(the name of which remained as Crimson Dawn dudes + Stan's boyfriend, by the way).

At least on that day Stan allowed Kyle to drive him to the place of the concert.

"Are you going to be okay out there?" Stan asked as soon as they arrived at the private parking lot behind the stage, and turned to look at Kyle who smiled back at him. "You can just come to the backstage with us, you know."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about it." Kyle turned off the engine before scooting as close as he could to Stan to leave a light kiss on his lips.

"But- Dude, you know those crowds are wild. What if you get hurt?" Stan's eyebrows furrowed in worry as he cupped Kyle's cheeks, squishing them in the process.

"Stan, we've talked about this at least ten times, if not more. And I've already got the ticket, so stop worrying." Kyle returned the gesture and offered a wide smile to help Stan relax. "Now go and slay them!"

Stan nodded a few times, already getting worked up, and leaned in for another quick kiss.

"I'll still keep an eye out for you."

* * *

"And one, and two, and-" Jimmy began working with the drums, creating a nice slow rhytm. Kenny and Butters were standing back to back, hands on their guitars as they strummed away, beggining to play a calm melody which started to build up slowly, but surely. 

In the meantime Stan cleared his throat and took a step forward, his left hand raising to grip the microphone.

"First of all, I wanna say that the last song is a little break from our usual style. And for you," He looked down to the redhead standing in the third row, right hand pointing to him. A big grin grew on his lips as he finished, "My _everything_, I keep my promises, so this song's for you." After taking a deep breath, Stan brought his left hand, which still held the microphone, to his face to start singing just in time with the dropping of the bass after the minute-long build-up.

_I know we don't understand each other sometimes,  
but damn, I fucking love you  
and even if you're not willing to listen,  
you're really getting under my skin  
boy, you should know  
that through all the years you were the one who was always on my mind  
I was there for you, always  
and I knew you would be there  
to catch me if I fall  
because, boy  
I know you also love me  
'cause I can see it in your eyes  
and in the way that you touch me  
I just know,  
I know for sure that you fucking love me  
and I feel like I'm floating  
every time I see your smile  
you got the key to my heart,_  
dude, _you fill it up like no one else does_

Stan lifted his head up to look at Kyle again. "Actually, why don't you come up here?" He took a few steps to the edge of the stage, then bent down and extended an arm forward. "Come on, Kyle, don't be shy." 

Kyle shook his head at first with his face and ears burning, but then the people around him started pushing him forward, shouting encouraging words. He didn't really have another choice so he decided, fuck it, and took a few more steps, reaching out to take the outstretched hand of his boyfriend.

Stan pulled him up easily and twirled him around despite Kyle's protests which soon turned into laughter as he covered his mouth with his free hand.

_I just fell so hard for you  
you should know that already  
because now, as I hold you in my arms  
and as I look at those eyes_

Kenny and Butters took this as a cue to face each other as Kenny bent down to leave a gentle kiss on his boyfriend's forehead. Butters giggled in response. The beat died down gradually as their strumming at their guitars did.

_I can tell that you love me too  
and the only thing I wanna tell you  
is please, oh please, be mine  
because I fucking love you_

Stan finished the song by moving closer and wrapping his arms around Kyle's neck as he slowly tilted his head to the side and pressed their lips together. Kyle stood there frozen for a second, but when his brain registered what was happening, he didn't hesitate to move his hands to Stan's back, pulling him even closer, completely forgetting about their surroundings.

"I really love you, Kyle." Stan said after he pulled back, his smile matching the one on Kyle's face.

Kyle bit his lower lip, thinking that the show probably needed a grand finale, so he bent down to dip Stan, but... it didn't go very well with his lack of strength and way down Stan went, his back quickly coming in contact with the cold floor of the stage.

"Holy shi-" Kyle began, his eyebrows shooting up in shock.

"Come here!"

And Stan was quick to catch his hand, pulling him down too.

"Hey! That wasn't fair!" Kyle protested as he laid there on top of Stan, trying to stand up, but he was stopped by a strong arm pressing on his lower back. 

"Dropping me wasn't fair!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry for that. And I love you too." Kyle smiled once again and stole another quick kiss before sitting up and taking the microphone from Stan's hand. He turned to regard the crowds in front of them and waved his hand. "We're good, there are no serious injuries, so don't worry!"

"Dude, that was awesome!" Kenny called out from behind them as he stepped closer to offer his help. Kyle rolled his eyes and moved away from Stan, then joined forces with Kenny to pull him up.

Stan smirked and, immediately upon standing up, wrapped his arms around Kyle's waist to dip him down, the latter's back and head almost touching the ground.

"_That's_ how you do it." This received a lot of cheering and shouting and, even a rainbow flag flying their way. "But let's leave that for later."

"Psh, show-off."

Another eye-roll and a chuckle came from Kyle and after they stood up again, they went to the edge of the stage to join Kenny, Butters and Jimmy.

Butters had caught the flag and was currently fumbling around with it while Kenny and Jimmy helped him turn it the right way, then hold it up.

Kenny, who was standing between his boyfriend and Jimmy, wrapped his arms around the two of them, then looked over to Kyle and Stan who stood on Butters' other side.

Kyle reached out to place his right hand on Kenny's shoulder while his left was holding the microphone together with Stan's hand. 

In the end, they all smiled and bowed, thanked everyone, and after that stepped closer to each other for a group hug with the flag wrapped around them as each of them just stood like this for a while to enjoy the moment.

Somewhere in the far end of the stage, a loud 'laaaaaaaaame' could be heard, but none of the boys bothered to look up.

"Ey, you guys, stop ignoring me! I didn't get enough screen time!"

**The end.**

"What?! Noooo, my screen time!!"

**I said the end, Cartman.**

"But-"

**The. End. :)**

"Ugh. screw you guys, I'm going home. Hope you enjoyed, leave a review or whatever... I'm out." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'dude' counter: 3
> 
> total 'dude' counter: 118


End file.
